A poster of François Hollande, Paris, the end of April
Posted on 05/07/2012 11:41:00 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The Socialist candidate has become President of France with 51.62% of the vote, beating Nicolas Sarkozy. The leftist daily Liberation, which sees the outcome as a wager on the future, greets it with “great joy”. Faced with the crisis, though, the honeymoon may be short.
A poster of François Hollande, Paris, the end of April
by Nicolas Demorand
Joy. The immense joy. At seeing a closing parenthesis end a sentence, at feeling a curse lift. And how! François Mitterrand, it turns out, was no historical anomaly, but the first leftist president. Now there is a second – François Hollande. For those on the left, 2012 revives 1981 and breathes life and colour back into those aged, sepia images that had seemed doomed to the history books, to becoming intimate memories of the old or of the kids that some of us were at that time. The year 2012 also soothes the burn, the wound, of April 21, 2002. Ten years on from that night, the trauma of having seen the French left wiped from the political landscape has been healed.
What does it mean, to vote for the left? It means that, despite the individualism of societies today, there is a “we”. That notions like justice, equality, sharing and solidarity can and should organise public life. Like these institutions and public goods, created by the National Council of Resistance, that existed before us and, having shaped us, will survive us. It is possible, therefore, to go against the values of the times and, instead of following the natural downward slope, to revive what brings us together, to listen to the little voice that speaks inside us all, and to live our lives not solely to defend our private domains. In a damaged France, which could have made the choice to barricade itself behind borders of fantasy, rehashing its past, François Hollande’s victory shows that the country has chosen hope, that it has looked ahead and not behind.
Let us savour this moment when a people decides to make that choice – and to look to the future. Such is now the task facing François Hollande. To fix the country, of course. To remake society, obviously. To reduce the inequalities of fate among the French, whoever they are and wherever they come from. But for this to happen: to shape, above all, the future. To show that France is not just heritage, history, past grandeur, but that it can also be projected into the future and reinvent itself. We must begin to write on this blank page – worrying in many ways, inspiring in many others – decisively, imperatively, not to betray the voters and this still evident confidence in the ability of politics to change things, if not life itself. The work has just begun, and tomorrow will be tough. But today: be happy, and live fully this merry month of May.
Au revoir, Mr Sarkozy!
These idiots who have made this choice deserve the utter Hell their lives are about to become.
Sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to care...
One has to wonder if overall government revenues will actually increase; I have read that the French government already exacts a large fraction of France's total GDP. One has to wonder if they can actually increase the amount coming through the door, or if the tax policies will be so damaging to the economy that the tax revenues collected will be flat or even drop.
Les Français sont sots.
Adieu, la belle France!
Well, since the French alienate everyone with their BS (it’s the national sport), where will they turn with their hand out when the REAL consequences of their choice come home with a vengence?
Oui, oui, dear benighted citizens of France, you choose to live in a leftist fantasy world devoid of logic, reason, and human nature where money falls off trees for the benefit of all. We, your elected rulers, will tax the bejeesus out of you anyway, dear citizens, but as the money falls off trees and wines flows out of kitchen taps, enjoy your pipe dream. Here, have a little more hashish. Robespierre lives!!!
They say if you don’t learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. The French obviously failed to learn anything from our election of a Socialist in 2008.
-—François Hollande’s victory shows that the country has chosen hope, that it has looked ahead and not behind.-—
Don’t look back. You might learn something. Instead, look to the future, where anything is possible!
Believe in yourself, and all your dreams can come true!
-—One has to wonder if they can actually increase the amount coming through the door, or if the tax policies will be so damaging to the economy that the tax revenues collected will be flat or even drop.——
They’re on the wrong side of the Laffer curve, and heading in the wrong direction.
Satchel Paige, MLB fastball pitcher, 1906-1982......"Don't look back. Something may be gaining on you."
Looking back or not, the past will quickly catch up on France with disasterous effects.
Leni
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