Of the people…

These are interesting times. The US government is ready to wage war on Iraq—or has already done so, by the time this editorial is published—despite the fact that most Americans did not initially feel threatened by Saddam Hussein. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, is disregarding opinion polls showing that more than 80% of Britons are against a war, and is continuing to send British troops to the Gulf. He, and his colleagues in seven other European countries—Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic—published an open letter to US President George W. Bush, in which they expressed their support for a war against Iraq. Most of them did not bother asking their voters, their parliaments or, in the case of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, even their cabinet members first. These countries are genuine democracies, and all share the recent painful experience of other forms of government—with the exception of the UK. But their leaders' support of the USA's war plans shows a complete and utter disregard for the views of the vast majority of their citizens. And this is happening in many areas, not just in whether or not we should go to war. The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, continues to ignore his citizens' demands for reforms to help the country's ailing economy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is about to change the country's constitution to give him more power. Tony Blair was elected on the strength of promises to reform, among others, Britain's healthcare and traffic problems, but these seem to be all but forgotten now.