The Divine Right of European Voters
“The people are voting for list 1, the Nazis, at the Reichstag election.”
The “Divine Right of Kings,” according to Richard Hooker means that certain kings ruled though God’s will, and as such, meant that there was little room for arguing with the decision made by such a king. It was unthinkable to rebel, as it would be to rebel against God’s decision made though the king. This obedience was to come from all of all social ranks. There were few exceptions for tyrannical kings and a subject that knows the king is giving a sinful order, the subject was to disobey, but then take his punishment for disobedience. The “Divine Right of Kings” was sent to the dust bin after the American and French revolutions.
For all appearances, we now have the Divine Right of European Voters. Europe’s crowned heads are just figureheads nowadays- but the divine right, of sorts, still exists, but with the European voters. What ever tyrannical nonsense European voters want to engage in is a right given by God (even if some don’t believe in Him). No civil, legal and human right is safe from the Divine Right of European Voters and, nowadays, the very rights of ethnic and religious minorities are at the mercy of the ballot box on election day.
Voting for hate as the Divine Right of European Voters. Last year, we saw the Divine Right of European Voters in action when God given rights of Swiss voters chose to ban minuets in Switzerland – and there was nothing that the Council of Europe, or the United Nations, could do. Yes- the Divine Right of Swiss Voters took away religious freedom and liberties of the small Muslim population. The human rights that are supposed to be universal and safeguarded are – in fact – second to the Divine Right of European Voters. Whoever is chosen as the largest party can mean that you and your family may be under threat in your own country. Just go and ask any Roma person that lives (or used to live) in Italy.
The Divine Right of European Voters also allows for the turning of hate groups into “political parties.” When this happens, the hate group-turned political party is given legitimacy - and even the government of a European nation moves to protect the hate group-political party. This is the situation we have in the Netherlands, where the Parij voor de Vrijheid (“Freedom Party”) of Geert Wilders is being politically and socially protected by the Dutch government. Like the divine right of kings, there is NO questioning of the decision made by Dutch voters – no matter how abusive and threatening it is to the country’s democracy and very existence. Therefore, the Dutch government allows NO criticism of the “divine decision” of 1.5 million of its PVV voters.
Fascists are popular. In other parts of Europe, hate groups-turned-political parties include many that have some ties to old Nazism. This includes the dubious Austrian “Freedom Party” and Jobbik of Hungary, and the “Swiss People’s Party.” The “Divine Right of European Voters” means that the European Voters can vote away the rights of especially minorities – but could this mean that voting for the next Hitler is a real possibility? In 1932 the National Socialists were the most popular, like the Dutch “Freedom Party” of today and like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Adolf Hitler too was the most popular in Germany. Yes – like the tyrannical king with “divine rights,” so too can the “divine right” of European voters go very, very wrong.
We can cut the Divine Right of European Voters. There should be no “divine rights” for European voters and, as I’ve said many times, democracy needs to be protected from itself. Major human rights instruments, noteworthy the European Convention of Human Rights, allow for the control of political actors to protect other societal groups and national security, something that especially the Netherlands has failed horrible at.While this article was intended to be largely facetious, the reality is that human rights, as argued here before, must be placed above the reach of ballot box outcomes. We must develop a security policy in the event a European democracy “goes rouge” by electing a tyrannical and perhaps dangerous government, as in the Netherlands. Human rights of ethnic and religious minorities in each and every Western nation must be safe no matter who is prime minister or what the largest party in a parliament is!
