I hear some people are demonstrating in the streets in France with banners reading: "I'm ashamed to be French."
Well, if I were French(I'm Belgian...), I certainly wouldn't feel ashamed after the first round of presidential elections in France.But then the people who are ashamed now are probably always ashamed to be French. Contrary to Americans, most French look down on patriotism.
I for one am extremely pleased with and proud of what the French did.
To begin with, they slapped Jospin, and with him the claret Left, in the face and they deserved it.Oh yes! Remember: Jospin said that athough he was a socialist, his electoral platform was not a socialist one.If this is not hypocrisy, what is it? The French kicked this man out and they were right.
They also voted for Le Pen, will some object. 16% did. That means 84% voted for the other candidates.
Whatever one may think of Mr. Le Pen's programme(do people know his programme? what do they really know about him except the insults and the mocking remarks the media and the political establishment have been pouring upon him for years instead of trying to come up with credible, effective alternatives?)I say that whatever one may feel about Mr. Le Pen, I find nonetheless this vote truly admirable.
What is admirable here, is the fact that so many people just refused to be influenced by the media. The media had tried hard with polls and pundits to make everybody believe the election was simply a (non)choice between Chirac and Jospin.They failed: the French just preferred to listen to their own feelings.No matter what the media commentators may say, that is a sign of great independence and hence political maturity. No apathy here.
One may regret that 16% of the French
voted for the FN, but if one adds up the votes of all the candidates of the extreme-left plus the greens, one finds that just as many people voted for leftist candidates.
France voted for the candidates with clear-cut ideas, people who were impassioned. They were right. Bravo la France!