European elections: No revolution at the polls

American journalist Anne Applebaum comments on the results of the European elections: "We've been waiting and waiting, but the widely predicted European backlash - against capitalism, against free markets, against the right - has not come. There are no demands for Marxist revolution, no calls for nationalization of industry, not even a European campaign for what the Obama administration calls 'stimulus' - a policy more colloquially known as 'massive government spending.' ... On the contrary: In last weekend's European parliamentary elections, capitalism triumphed, at least in its mushy European form. Admittedly, these European polls are a peculiar species of election. Far fewer people vote in them than vote in national elections, and those who do cast ballots are far vaguer about what their deputies, once elected to the European legislature, actually do. The European parliament's gradual accumulation of real power seems to have had no effect whatsoever on its popular image, which is still that of a do-nothing institution composed of clapped-out politicians who cost everybody a fortune in airplane tickets."

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