Commentary
The protests in France against President Emmanuel Macron’s raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 have increased in number and intensified in violence. A March 24 report stated that around 150 members of the French police forces have been injured.
Anarchists are having a field day. Mob psychology has made an ugly appearance as some ordinarily law-abiding Frenchmen engage in violent behavior. This is mobocracy in action—the degenerate side of democracy.
Chaos and mayhem have resulted from seeing real economic problems through the distorting lens of political myths and fantasies. Let’s try to untangle those myths.
First, an acknowledgment: It’s understandable that people who had long been told that they would be able to retire at 62 would be upset upon being told that the rules were going to change, and that they would have to work for two more years. There’s something irrational, however, about blindly lashing out in riotous behavior, randomly destroying property and injuring the persons of innocent individuals. Even if they were to attack Macron himself, that would be irrational, because Macron isn’t the real source of the problem….