“Perhaps the majority of French may slowly realize these people are a lot different then others that they have freely accepted into their society.”
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Hmm, let’s chew on this a bit.
France is a largely Socialist country. Chirac is certainly a Socialist. Most of the larger industries were nationalized years ago.
Technically then, many, many of the citizens work for Chirac, not directly of course.
Given that he is the boss, it’s almost their duty to support his positions, right?
Sarkozy is now their boss. As with GWB, there will be entrenched Chirakkies who will try to throw sand into the gears, but an awful lot of Sarkozy’s employees are going to shift their allegiances relatively quickly.
Once you get outside of the big cities, esp. Paris, the people in the countryside are rational, just as rational as most of the people in Anytown, USA.
Sarkozy could make a big difference very quickly.
I believe your comments will hold up to the test of time. Each European oountry has it’s silent majority.
Well, allow me to make a few comments here.
“France is a largely Socialist country.”
Quite the contrary. You could argue it is a Welfare State democracy, but it relies upon private property and private economy. Tell our Communists (or abroad) that France is a Socialist and you’ll get funny looks.
“Chirac is certainly a Socialist. Most of the larger industries were nationalized years ago.”
Actually, Chirac is the one who sold out state-held stakes in most public businesses. You will still find major industrial companies where the French government holds stakes, but these have been constantly shrinking both in number and in importance. What Chirac did was to keep the Welfare State in place, that’s for sure.
“Technically then, many, many of the citizens work for Chirac, not directly of course.”
Technically, many French citizens work very directly for the French governments, whether at the national or the local level.
“Given that he is the boss, it’s almost their duty to support his positions, right?”
As a matter of fact, no. It’s nothing like a spoils system, where one owes his job to one’s political affiliation. A civil servant is next to inamovible, for better or for worse.
“Sarkozy is now their boss. As with GWB, there will be entrenched Chirakkies who will try to throw sand into the gears, but an awful lot of Sarkozy’s employees are going to shift their allegiances relatively quickly.”
With Chirac out of the picture, French Conservatives have one man to follow, and they elected him President of this Republic. The administration’s allegiance is part of the job, they are required to serve the government of their country no matter what political color it is, as long as we are talking about a legal government issuing law-abiding orders of course.