Nigel Farage Takes a Victory Lap at the EU

It has been great fun watching Nigel Farage flay the European Parliament these last few years usually to looks of derision, and here he is today taking a well-earned victory lap in front of his future former colleagues, who are not amused—so much so that the speaker of the parliament has to tell the crowd to settle down. (I especially like “I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives. . .”)

JOE ADDS: I agree with Steve that, even if (like me) you don’t have a particular taste for Farage the man, this speech is a beautiful thing to behold. It’s true that the crowd, MEPs, largely have not created a job. Do they know what that’s about? Not a whit. They are deluded bright things who from the age of 17 figured they’d go into government, which seemed to them both the most ennobling and also the most lucrative profession. They went to Oxford. They went to Science Po. They have never had any target other than the professional agglomeration of power earlier devolved upon institutions by the governed, but devolved through so many filtrations that the will of the governed has attenuated to nothing.

In the very best case scenario, you may have a hereditary CEO of a family-owned business, who only joined the ranks of professional government after helping to grow the company 2% YoY for 5 years. These are the genius industrialists of elite Europe. Big whoop.

These MEPs subject to Fargae’s taunts have been gliding across water since their university days, believing that parceling a big pot of money in just the right way–their particular way–will help people. It rarely crosses the mind of a bright young German going into some ministry or other where the money came from. It is simply There, to be Perfected. How completely absurd. They deserved a shock, and from the wisdom of their beer-laden bellies the Britons have delivered it.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses