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From The Hill's Pundits Blog:
The problem with globalization, aside from megalomania, is that it stretches the culture to its thinnest and brings it to its maximum least potential: everyone a John Lennon, everyone a Marx, everyone an Oprah, everyone an Obama. Then it snaps. What you had at the beginning was Lord Nelson. What you get at the end is "American Idol." At the beginning you get Jefferson. At the end you get Joe Biden.
As The New York Times reports, in the general election in Finland last weekend, “the nationalist and populist True Finn Party emerged from political obscurity after largely campaigning on the evils of the European Union and its bailouts of Greece and Ireland. It claimed 39 seats in Finland’s Parliament — almost eight times the number it won in the 2007 election — and it is likely to become a partner in any coalition government.”
For the Times, it is the new terror that dare not speak its name, but its name is Tea Party. And: “Finland is not alone. Anti-European Union and anti-immigration parties have been on the rise in Sweden, Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands in the past year, and more may follow. It is a worrisome trend for supporters of the union, and for efforts to safeguard the euro by offering emergency loans to the weakest member nations and to better coordinate budget and spending policies in the countries that use it.”
Not a surprise that the Finns turned first. They are said to be as tough as boiled owl and singularly held off Stalin in the Winter War. Now they hold off the mediocrity which is the EU.
Wonder what their version of our "Don't Tread on Me" flag looks like?
