EU channels Contract With America

I think we can write Europe out of the league of democracies.

Here's a recipe for electoral disaster:

1) Right-wing media bias.

2) Low voter turnout.

3) Crooked election officials who don't place a high priority on the integrity of the vote.

It happened in America in 1994, and now it's happened in the European Union, as far-right parties have seized control of the European legislature.

The difference there is that the EU has long had a whole system in place to allow this to happen by giving too much weight to right-wing areas. (There is an American parallel though: The elder Bush vetoed a bill that would have made the 1990 census more accurate. Following this, Democratic states lost seats to Republican states.) The European left actually isn't any weaker now than before, except in the transcontinental legislature.

In fact, the British National Party - a right-wing, avowedly racist party - captured an EU seat for the first time ever, even though the BNP doesn't have a single seat in Britain's Parliament.

But make no mistake: The European right has the continent in its crosshairs and won't hesitate to flex its muscle - even on unwilling nations. Not unlike the disregard for local autonomy that defined the Contract With America and the Bush era.

So much for the "democratic" EU, huh?