Yes. It has burnt for years, and now the mere rabble may have had enough. I cannot wait for the results of this election, I hope it will be LePen, and I don’t know much about her. But she has all the right enemies.
There are some who come unhinged when LePen pulls ahead, but who explain away murderous Islamic terrorism with a creepy facility. The only shade that she (I mean, uh, some people) can throw at the most recent attack on Paris is to suggest that ISIS is only killing Parisians in order to provoke the French to vote for LePen. This will enrage Muslims to attack the French.
Deep thought. Well, deep something anyway.
She seems to be a nationalist, and her economics seem to be typical French socialist statist, but I doubt she is a globalist.
If she wins, the despair among the self proclaimed elites will be a treasure to behold.
I’ve read she is quite supportive of Frexit and the financial markets are already becoming unsettled.
Rendre la France géniale encore!
She’s a bit of a wild card. I agree that elite tears will be delicious, just as they were with Brexit and our own election. Maybe that’s good enough reason to cheer her on.
All the right enemies sums up why I want LePen to win pretty well.
But no matter what France is headed for grim times. If LePen wins and starts evicting the foreign colonists there will continued violence. If she doesn’t win, there will continued violence.
In fact, I suspect either way France is well on the way to a bloody civil war, complete with massacres and refugees and perhaps even a UN resolution or two.
Shrug. Good luck to them, but they should have known better.
Claire’s advice of ‘Don’t vote for LePen. Everyone knows LePen will crack down on Islamic extremism so electing her will make Islamic extremists even angrier’ explains how they got in this mess. It’s likely there will be a runoff May 7 and I do fear Paris will burn in the runup to that, since LePen may well be one of the two candidates.
“Claire’s advice of ‘Don’t vote for LePen. Everyone knows LePen will crack down on Islamic extremism so electing her will make Islamic extremists even angrier’ explains how they got in this mess.”
Why am I getting flashbacks from the biographies I’ve read of Neville Chamberlain here?
My hope is that the absentee ballot fiasco will cause two leftist parties to come in 1-2 and LePen to drop to third.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/792112/Marine-Le-Pen-French-election-votes-computer-Emmanuel-Macron
Thereafter, her supporters start a civil war and the RINOs bite the bullet and join them.
I like following the election there, but have seen no data that suggests she has a chance of winning a runoff.
I expect she will make it to the final round and then all other forces in the election will be arrayed against her in the final round. That is a shame, but I think that is the most likely outcome.
I unfortunately agree with this. The majority of French are vehemently against returning to the franc. This type of action would definitely endanger their ‘safety net.’
The French military, for all the jokes, is a good organization. One cannot say the same for the country at large, though.
Ergo they will get what they deserve. No tears for them, at least by me.
Dev,
Despite the existence of La Résistance, I will never quite respect them again after WWII. Jackie Kennedy was the only American able to tolerate DeGaulle.
I was once invited to a dinner party in Nice (a rarity in itself because Les Françaises never invite étrangers into their home) and managed to create outrage amidst an entire table of dinner guests after an hour of listening to insulting remarks about vulgar Americans.
In all my sophisticated glory :), I managed to shout out “You’d all be speaking German if it wasn’t for the vulgarians. You should be ashamed of your remarks.”
One man at the table responded, “We’re lovers, not fighters.” I responded “That’s because we’ve allowed you that luxury.”
The party naturally ended early and my French date was less than enamoured with me après ça! The worst thing about the incident is that I love the culture and the beauty and the food of the country and it was always considered to be one of my favorite vacation destinations.
So I moved on to Vienna.
**
European cultures in general have a singular ability to be superior feeling to all others, but especially to those cowboys from across the pond. I have found Germans to have similar responses, also without merit – we trashed them twice, and thoroughly, especially the second time.
That said, DeGaulle at least had some reason to dislike Americans. They disregarded him during WWII despite French troops being a notable section of the overall armies of the allies, and fighting well.
One might also note that if it weren’t for the French, the Israelis wouldn’t have a bomb, because goodness knows, while we gave away the secrets to the bad guys, we weren’t about to do so for the good guys.
Then there’s the soldiers who fought in Indochina and Algeria. Serious soldiers. Serious combat.
But those days are mostly gone, and the French, unfortunately like many of our citizens, have been replaced by wusses.
Of course you’re right; the French have had an impressive military career and I would use their participation (whatever the motives) in the American Revolution as a primary example.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de LaFayette aka the Marquis de LaFayette was the finest example indeed.
de Tocqueville was one of the most astute observers of American culture as well.
I think where it all went wrong (and one of the reasons I am not a Jefferson fan) was the heinous brutality of the French Revolution.
America went to war with words, documents, and declarations; France committed atrocious acts of violence against religious and monarchical figures. That revolution was truly inspired by a mob mentality and I have always been uncomfortable with her history.
Also, Lafayette’s immediate family members were slaughtered like animals by Robespierre and his Reign of Terror because of his affiliation with America.
We have good friends in France. I have seen them in Afghanistan. As in the US, when you visit the hot spots, you meet the big shots.
My guess is that dinner in a house in the countryside would net you a tour of a veteran’s personal effects and some serious love on the US.
The American Revolution was inspired by God-fearing people. The French was not. Therein lies the difference. Read the Declaration and the opening words of the Constitution to see the difference.
Even as I take a more secular approach to my life, I agree wholeheartedly that the founding of our country (although, Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson were Deists) was based upon a uniquely Christian idea:
“We are endowed by our Creators with unalienable rights…”
The secular French broke all the rules of civility during their revolution by murdering and torturing their adversaries. George Washington did not.