Polling Station, Strasbourg

Source: Bigstock

Talk of market temperance is unheard of in the higher echelons of Western society. Those comfortably seated in the high perches of prosperity have made their peace with profit-seeking. Hillary Clinton’s urging of her supporters to focus on racism and not Wall Street bonuses showed just how far today’s liberals are willing to go to keep their enriched positions.

Returning to France, if polling is any indication (and given Trump’s success, no poll is trustworthy), Macron will sweep Le Pen come Election Day. Even so, that’s no relief to the country’s so-called “€œcreative class.”€ A red river of rage runs through the heart of those cut off from contemporary success. Those whom author Christophe Guilluy calls “€œla France périphérique“€ are mad as hell. The former Cadbury workers of Britain are just as incensed. And Trump voters were fed up with the status quo.

The stubborn little flame that is the middle class in these countries will only get hotter. It won”€™t be snuffed out by Walmart shelves stocked full of cheap Chinese trinkets. It won”€™t be extinguished with gobs of cheap labor imported from afar.

The postwar neoliberal order succeeded in establishing a free flow of international goods and an easing of world-engulfing conflict. But it has failed to provide a meaningful way of life absent endless consumption.

“€œLe coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point,”€ said Pascal. The feeling of displacement in one’s own country will continue to be the driving force of elections to come.