France on life support.
It occurs to me that France uses the US and Israel as scapegoats to deflect public criticism in France of the unpopular French government, just as Saudi Arabia and other Muslim dictatorships use the US and Israel as scapegoats to deflect public criticism in Muslim countries of their unpopular regimes. The comparison is striking.
Roger L Simon has a moving essay on France. (*) Sadly, the nation of France creaks under the weight of enormous welfare payments to neverending streams of Muslim immigrants. The French political establishment is paralyzed. The French government is bureaucratized and corrupt. Something must give way. Simon forecasts change.
French Jews are leaving to escape the lash of Jew-hatred.
It should also be noted that the right-wing movement in France, headlined by Le Pen, gained a surprising number of votes in the last election. As the right-wing is outside the existing political order that would be a good thing. Unfortunately, the French right-wing is even more anti-Semitic and more anti-American than the establishment. Le Pen could be even worse for France than is Chirac.
The French political establishment is pinning its hopes on integrating its failing nation into the EU. Unfortunately, that appears to have been an imprudent play. The EU has nothing that can forge it into a nation-state. There is no shared language or culture. Nothing leads me to believe the EU can succeed. Dissidents are calling it the “EUSSR.” The EU may not last nearly as long, however.
Responsible French reformers should consider rejecting the EU, rejecting anti-Semitism, rejecting anti-Americanism, and rejecting the Fifth Republic in favor of what may become the Sixth. What France is in desperate need of is a new constitution to decentralize political power, privatize industry, and better guarantee individual rights.
Do not count out France. The French have a history of appearing to be on the verge of their own end, only to recover. Charles Martel, Joan of Arc, and Charles de Gaulle come to mind. Let’s hope there is someone who can save France.
We Americans should encourage the French people to find their own solutions. Currently, this requires us to criticize the French government vociferously. Yet, with France we ought to always maintain an atmosphere of respect. We should treat France with respect because that is how we want France to treat us.
Update: 20 March 2004. I changed “anti-Semitism” to “Jew-hatred” to avoid confusion. Muslims are the primary instigators of Jew-hatred at this time, and many Muslims are ethnically Semitic.