France’s upcoming legislative elections (June 30, with a second round on July 7) have a lot to teach us about politics — and they also offer insight into how American and French politics can be compared.
The left-wing parties competing for a majority in the National Assembly are the populist coalition New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) or NPF, is a temporary coalition of both left-wing and far-left parties, including the Communist Party, in an effort to seize power. In each region, the NPF fields one left-wing candidate. The far-right National Coalition (Larry Mendes National) or NR, and the more centre-right Republicans (Republic Army Alternatively, LR agreed to a similar electoral coalition. RenaissanceCurrent President Emmanuel Macron’s center-right National Front party is fielding candidates in a loose coalition with several smaller parties.
“Extreme” is a matter of degree. Many Americans are unaware that a typical American Democrat would be called center-right in France. An objective analyst would have a hard time finding the difference between, say, Barack Obama and Emmanuel Macron. Political extremism is not as extreme in the United States as it is in France, but that may have started to change a few years ago.
It has been observed in the current French election campaign that the only policy element on which all NPF parties actually agree is the increase in taxes and benefits, i.e. the redistribution of more funds and benefits in kind to favoured political clients. Redistribution Essentially, the poor and the modest middle class are sacrificed at the expense of the “rich,” i.e., those who are not actually that well off.It is a common political phenomenon that people who want to restructure society, whether on the left or the right, can disagree about the kind of utopia they want.
Interestingly, the policies of the far right are just as populist as those of the far left, target the same clientele, and offer similar perks such as increased “social” spending and price controls funded by the “rich”. Dada Fewer Immigration more ProtectionismThe left adds “ecological planning” and raising the minimum wage. As Anthony de Jasay puts it, in accordance with public choice theory, a party that wants to win an election tries to get the votes of the poorest 50% + 1 by promising to plunder the richest 49% on their behalf. More generally, Whatever the reason Why do rationally ignorant voters support particular parties? The very nature of politics, or how politics works, is to harm some individuals to benefit others. At least, this is politics as we know it.
Macron’s “centre-right” party is more cautious than either extreme, if only because it has already pushed the annual budget deficit to 5% of GDP.
Besides the general structure of government, the major political similarity between France and the United States (where America has a fairly short history since the Enlightenment) is that in both places most citizens were free (“LiberteIn France and America, freedom is born and lives in each country. In reality, freedom has been trampled in both places by the nominal political powers of each country, often in the name of its defense. Only in France it has been trampled earlier and more decisively than in America. In America, the worst is yet to come; in the long history of France, it has come many times.
Marianne Marianne is a fictional glamorous woman who has historically symbolized the French Republic. Her images and busts have taken on various incarnations over time, most recently those of French actresses such as Brigitte Bardot. The main image in this article is a reproduction of the current Marianne logo of the French state. Some may consider Marianne a sexist symbol, but it certainly shows how effective the French government has been in government propaganda and imagery to incite national pride and submission. Classical liberals and libertarians are understandably suspicious of the glorification of the state.
The upcoming French parliamentary elections (as well as the US presidential elections) show how difficult it is to escape the political plague, and how necessary it is. How do we stop governments from discriminating against some citizens in favor of others? Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan and his school of economics have Constitutional Politics and Economy Those inspired by him proposed to subject politics to unanimously chosen rules at a higher “level” called the constitution. At that abstract level, politics amounts to mutually beneficial exchange, but day-to-day politics under Leviathan is about discrimination and exploitation. (See my review by Econlib.) Books by James Buchanan and Jeffrey Brennan Reasons for the ruleAnthony de Jassay, another economist and political philosopher worth consulting on this issue, has proposed a more radical solution: abolish politics, that is, replace group choices with individual choices entirely. (See de Jassay’s book, The Power of the Five Elements.) situation And his Against politics These are good entry points into this radical theory; the links are to my Econlib reviews.
Pessimists will argue that neither ideal is achievable. I counter that the future of individual freedom and prosperity requires such considerations.
