The Republic Strikes Back

All eyes now focus on the Dutch, who vote tomorrow after the French public's stinging rejection of the proposed European constitution on Sunday. It will be Holland's first referendum in 200 years and voters evidently plan to celebrate by staying home in large numbers, which would be unusual behavior for the civic-minded Dutch. According to polls, turnout could be as low as 30%, with opponents outnumbering supporters of the constitution by 3 to 2.

Like the French, Dutch Voters are upset with a basket of issues including the often-heard loss of national identity and fear of Turkey's admission in the E.U. A more serious gripe, echoed by Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm and Reserve Banker Henk Brouwer, is unnecessarily high inflation caused by undervaluing the guilder when it was converted to the euro. Rejection is now clearly in Dutch interests since it could lead to a better deal on related matters when the constitution is thrown back to Brussels for renegotiation.

Parisians last week witnessed a parade of doom as one European official after another visited France to berate voters into supporting the proposed constitution. A failure would be a "catastrophe" and there was no "plan B." Yeah, whatever. The Dutch may have noticed that Monday morning looked a lot like Sunday morning. Europe and its current bag of treaties that are the default constitution didn't suddenly blow up. The turmoil in France will make Europe's elites take notice that they can't insulate themselves from democracy's most sacred pastime: throwing the bums out.