Mark Steyn's Take on the French Presidential Election

Mark Steyn, with his usual succinct brilliance, provides his thoughts about Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive win here. I am very glad that he won but share Steyn's view that it will be virtually impossible for him (or anyone) to change the unaffordable welfare state mentality that is France today.

There's an old expression that if Peter takes from Paul then Peter loves it. Paul ain't too happy though. For decades now, the French system has been setup to provide anyone with virtually anything they want. The socialists here in Canada often cite France as a perfect example of what they want to achieve for Canada. What they fail to mention is that the nation is rampant with high taxes, high unemployment and high crime!

Socialism is great in theory. But it fails to account for human nature. When a country switches to a socialist state initially a small number of people avoid putting in their share of work to help out the collective. It's not noticed though because tens of millions of other are working hard. But then a 2nd tier of people observe that the first set has stopped contributing so why can't they too. The fact is, they can also bow out of the workforce. This trend continues on in a vicious downward spiral and before you know it, there are not enough people contributing to the taxbase. Also, many of the best & brightest have left the country years ago.

Sarkozy's problem is that too many French citizens are takers, not contributors and so any reforms he tries to bring in will be fought at every turn. 2007 is still young. Watch for major protests and riots before the year is out. There'll be burning Renaults illuminating the problems that have so deeply infected modern day France. It's sad, but so predictable.

As a final thought, let me share this with you: Steyn writes midway into his article: "The spring 2006 rioters were "youths" (ie pampered deadbeats from the Sorbonne), protesting a new law that would enable employers to terminate the contracts of employees under the age of 26 in their first jobs, after two years."

Read that again in case you didn't get the full thrust of it the first time. It is a FACT that in France today, once someone is hired, they cannot be fired - EVER!!! I first learned of this from a French expat here in Vancouver. I, of course, thought she was joking. But it definitely is true. I couldn't even imagine trying to run a business where I was not allowed to fire someone, no matter how incompetent they were. Yet it's exactly what the socialists in Canada aspire to achieve, if they were ever able to get away with it!