The current protests in France are a rather big deal, especially if sentiment there is widespread across Europe.  The protests get some headlines in the United States, but probably not enough given their significance.

There are many takeaways from this whole thing, and I think most of them are positive.

First, it is important to understand that these protests are a continuation of what is happening elsewhere in the West in developed countries.  The British protested with Brexit.  The U.S. protested with the election of Trump.  The French are protesting in the streets, but maybe that is because they don’t have a good protest vote to make at the polls.

The protesters in France have and will be called many things.  They will be called fascist.  They will be called street thugs.  Maybe they will be called a basket of deplorables, but that term didn’t work out too well for Hillary.

I have no doubt that some of the criminal class has joined the protesters in causing mayhem and destroying private property (to the extent that it exists in France).  But I believe the origins of the protests are authentic, and it is largely anti state.  Now, if you go and ask the average protester, I doubt they will talk about the non-aggression principle or other overtly libertarian themes.  But they will say that the middle class is struggling and has had enough. Whether they call for a drastic reduction in government or more government help is another matter, but you could say the same about Trump supporters and Brexit supporters.

The bottom line is that the French president thought he could get away with another move to benefit the state at the expense of the regular person.  But he highly miscalculated and overstepped his bounds. He did the equivalent of not feeding his serfs.  If the serfs are well enough fed and don’t see too many luxuries enjoyed by the master, then the serfs will stay in line.  But every serf has his breaking point.

Americans have a tendency to not be quite as tolerant.  Perhaps a better term is obedient.  That is why we do not have the same level of taxation in the United States as what is seen in France.  It wouldn’t get to that point here.  But in the case of France, Macron added a straw that broke that camel’s back.

It’s interesting that people will say that they care about climate change, but it is easy to speak words.  Most Americans will say they oppose running up the national debt.  But when it comes time to actually cut something from the federal budget, then it becomes a lot more difficult and there is no consensus.

The same goes for global warming – excuse me, climate change.  Many of the protesters will say they support a green agenda, but that support wanes quickly when it means a downgrade in lifestyle. The French protesters realized that the higher gasoline taxes (on top of the already high gasoline taxes) were just a move to hurt the lower and middle classes, while lining the pockets of the state.

I think it is a positive development that even people in Western Europe are starting to see the fraud of the climate change agenda.  The agenda has little to do with the environment and a lot to do with taxation and control.

A Nanny State and the Consent of the Governed

The most surprising aspect for me of this whole protest movement in France is the origin of the name.  The protesters are being called the yellow vests, as they wear yellow vests when protesting in the streets.

Until a couple of days ago, I had no idea that French motorists are actually required to have these yellow vests in their vehicles in case of emergency.  I know Americans tolerate a lot of regulation in their lives, but would they really tolerate something this crazy?

We hear the term nanny state used.  I can’t find a better example of the nanny state than requiring all motorists to have yellow emergency vests in their vehicles.  The French protesters are really late in the game.  They should have been protesting the requirement of yellow vests long before these added gasoline taxes.

These protests are also a good demonstration that the politicians rely on the consent of the governed.  When these protesters hit the streets, it wasn’t long before Macron backed off his proposal to raise taxes.  Macron stayed in hiding and said he would delay the tax hikes.  But the serfs had already been awakened, and it seems to be going beyond this one tax now.

The state cannot survive without the consent of the governed.  The politicians and bureaucrats will always get away with as much as they can.  They will impose control to the degree that they can get away with it. The main thing that keeps them in check is not a constitution or the courts.  It is public opinion.  They rely on the cooperation of the large majority of the public.

I hear the objection that many people are against government or government leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere, yet they still go on.  For example, at least half the people in the U.S. oppose Trump, and many of them strongly so.  Yet Trump remains in power.

But you have to realize that the anti Trump people are not opposed to the state.  They are just opposed to one personality or one party.  They do not oppose the system.  There is widespread agreement from the American people on the state funding of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, and a long list of other things.  There are times that a majority will say they oppose a conflict overseas, but most of the people opposed are only passively opposed.  It is easy to say you don’t favor the U.S. military going into Syria, but it is more a question of whether you really care that much.

In the case of France, I don’t know if a majority of people are opposed to the gasoline tax hikes. But there is obviously a very vocal and irate minority.  It is one thing to take a poll and extrapolate that a few million people oppose something.  It is another thing when thousands of protesters hit the streets with authentic outrage.

In conclusion, I see the protests in France as largely symbolic.  It is showing that there is resistance against the state. Sometimes that resistance is quiet until there is a trigger one day.

This is good news for liberty.  France is not exactly a place of great liberty, but even here the people have a limit.  This is disrupting the plans of the globalists who seek centralization and state control.  It is a further disruption to the European Union. It is a disruption to the agenda of those who push climate change and all of the big government that goes along with it.  It is a disruption against political power.

We should celebrate these victories when they come, even when they aren’t purely libertarian.