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I'm not much of a political activist, but you can't help noticing the coverga surrounding the French election. If you haven't got a tele, then basically some French bloke who no-one ever expected to get anywhere and is near the end of his political carrer is doing quite well - he might even win. Fair enough I thought to myself, it's an election, people have the right to vote for who they want. So why all the fuss? I think this is why:
From the BBC NEWS website - Le Pen's goals:
Abolition of European Commission and Maastricht treaty
Revival of the franc, alongside euro
Re-creation of trade barriers with EU countries
Separation of French families' funds from those of foreigners
Ban on building of mosques in France
Reintroduction of the death penalty
Errr...ok...seperation of foreigners funds...ban on building mosques...this guy has a major bug up his a**e. Check it out for yourself on any news site anywhere.
From the BBC NEWS website - Le Pen's goals:
Abolition of European Commission and Maastricht treaty
Revival of the franc, alongside euro
Re-creation of trade barriers with EU countries
Separation of French families' funds from those of foreigners
Ban on building of mosques in France
Reintroduction of the death penalty
Errr...ok...seperation of foreigners funds...ban on building mosques...this guy has a major bug up his a**e. Check it out for yourself on any news site anywhere.
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The reason LePen did well wasn't because he's popular, it's a little more complicated:
First of all his protege, whose name I can't remember, left the FN a few years ago because he was tired of playing second fiddle to LePen, who didn't look like retiring. Tis meant that the FN vote was split for the past few years. That guy's now back on board in the party and so the FN has a larger vote.
Secondly the vote for the Left that would normally go to Jospin has become split. Jospin has focused on the key election issue - crime - but has apparently been lackluster in comparison to Lepen and Chirac, as a result Left voters moved to the extremes and the Trotskiest parties had a relatively high showing, in comparison to previous elections.
Thirdly the turnout was low enough that Lepen's percentage of the votes was increased, because extreme voters tend to be more active than those who vote for the central parties. So while Lepen did not gain many more non-FN voters, he did have a significant percentage of votes due to the apathy of the other voters.
Lepen is the product of proportional representation. People may say that it's a more democratic process than what we have, first past the post voting, but it means that fringe parties like the FN can establish themselves and they hinder the political process. Proportional Representation is when parties are allocated seats according to their percentage of the total vote, whereas in Britain parties contest specific seats. Take this scenario, in every single constituency in the country Labour get 51% of the votes, and the Conservatives get 49%, that would give Labour a monopoly in the House of Commons, unlikely but it's to illustrate a point. If the same thing happened in France, then Labour woul receive 51% of the seats and the Conservatives would receive 49%. Arguably that is a more democratic situation.
The problem is that parties like the National Front can exploit PR to gain seats, whereas they are kept out of the running under our system. If the vote for parties is as split up in France as for the Presidential elections then they will have real problems. It will find that the main parties have poor showings and that the fringe parties gain more seats. In the words of Lincoln, a house divided cannot stand.
Lepen is an idiotic politician whose policies make little or no sense and who would bring France to its knees. One policy of his is to abolish income tax. Great one for the public, but it is completely impractical. At the same time he wants to introduce a state-payed national minimum wage for housewives. That policy is impossible. For a start it's going to lead to astronomical levels of spending. France currently taxes 40% income in the lowest bracket, if people have another 40%+ of their income to spend then Demand is going to go through the roof, and supply won't be able to keep up. Lepen's spending without taxation is also going to mean that he can't afford to pay public sector wages or indeed housewives' wages.
Most worryingly of all, he wants to withdraw France from the Euro. Like the Euro or not, if it collapses then Britain is baggered. Most of Britain's trade takes place inside the EU and if France withdraws from Europe, and from the Euro, it will fold. That will mess up all of the European economies and Britain won't have anyone to trade with, apart from the oft-overstated trans-atlantic market.
Maybe you thought that LePen didn't concern you. Well he does. He epitomises everything that goes wrong when people lose interest in politics. You may think that politics goes on whether you take an interest or not, the problem is that too many people think like that. So if you're over 18 register to vote and make sure your voice counts, be it in a ballet on the Euro or a general election.
First of all his protege, whose name I can't remember, left the FN a few years ago because he was tired of playing second fiddle to LePen, who didn't look like retiring. Tis meant that the FN vote was split for the past few years. That guy's now back on board in the party and so the FN has a larger vote.
Secondly the vote for the Left that would normally go to Jospin has become split. Jospin has focused on the key election issue - crime - but has apparently been lackluster in comparison to Lepen and Chirac, as a result Left voters moved to the extremes and the Trotskiest parties had a relatively high showing, in comparison to previous elections.
Thirdly the turnout was low enough that Lepen's percentage of the votes was increased, because extreme voters tend to be more active than those who vote for the central parties. So while Lepen did not gain many more non-FN voters, he did have a significant percentage of votes due to the apathy of the other voters.
Lepen is the product of proportional representation. People may say that it's a more democratic process than what we have, first past the post voting, but it means that fringe parties like the FN can establish themselves and they hinder the political process. Proportional Representation is when parties are allocated seats according to their percentage of the total vote, whereas in Britain parties contest specific seats. Take this scenario, in every single constituency in the country Labour get 51% of the votes, and the Conservatives get 49%, that would give Labour a monopoly in the House of Commons, unlikely but it's to illustrate a point. If the same thing happened in France, then Labour woul receive 51% of the seats and the Conservatives would receive 49%. Arguably that is a more democratic situation.
The problem is that parties like the National Front can exploit PR to gain seats, whereas they are kept out of the running under our system. If the vote for parties is as split up in France as for the Presidential elections then they will have real problems. It will find that the main parties have poor showings and that the fringe parties gain more seats. In the words of Lincoln, a house divided cannot stand.
Lepen is an idiotic politician whose policies make little or no sense and who would bring France to its knees. One policy of his is to abolish income tax. Great one for the public, but it is completely impractical. At the same time he wants to introduce a state-payed national minimum wage for housewives. That policy is impossible. For a start it's going to lead to astronomical levels of spending. France currently taxes 40% income in the lowest bracket, if people have another 40%+ of their income to spend then Demand is going to go through the roof, and supply won't be able to keep up. Lepen's spending without taxation is also going to mean that he can't afford to pay public sector wages or indeed housewives' wages.
Most worryingly of all, he wants to withdraw France from the Euro. Like the Euro or not, if it collapses then Britain is baggered. Most of Britain's trade takes place inside the EU and if France withdraws from Europe, and from the Euro, it will fold. That will mess up all of the European economies and Britain won't have anyone to trade with, apart from the oft-overstated trans-atlantic market.
Maybe you thought that LePen didn't concern you. Well he does. He epitomises everything that goes wrong when people lose interest in politics. You may think that politics goes on whether you take an interest or not, the problem is that too many people think like that. So if you're over 18 register to vote and make sure your voice counts, be it in a ballet on the Euro or a general election.
At least they have candidates with differant policies in France.
Over here Labour and Conservative just attack one another and say the same stuff just to get into power...it's not democracy I tell you...
Time for a revolution methinks :)
Over here Labour and Conservative just attack one another and say the same stuff just to get into power...it's not democracy I tell you...
Time for a revolution methinks :)
If the Predident wanted to win the election, what better way to get people voting for him than to have a facist party as the opposition?
Hmmm..I dont think his policies are that bad, a few are perhaps not right. But the death penalty could be good news.
As my Mum's French I've been told about the whole situation all week. The two remaining candidates are a racist and a crook.
Protoss wrote:
> And blahpro, his name is like that because he is French...
Exactly...
> And blahpro, his name is like that because he is French...
Exactly...
Craw wrote:
> blahpro wrote:
> He has a gay name...
>
> Thats hardly a reason is it?
>
> I mean, we could probably say the same about you..
LOL!
This guy obviously has no chance of winning now, what with the histeria but it should alert French politicians of the feelings of the general public.
And blahpro, his name is like that because he is French...
> blahpro wrote:
> He has a gay name...
>
> Thats hardly a reason is it?
>
> I mean, we could probably say the same about you..
LOL!
This guy obviously has no chance of winning now, what with the histeria but it should alert French politicians of the feelings of the general public.
And blahpro, his name is like that because he is French...
blahpro wrote:
> He has a gay name...
Thats hardly a reason is it?
I mean, we could probably say the same about you..
> He has a gay name...
Thats hardly a reason is it?
I mean, we could probably say the same about you..
He has a gay name...
Its just a reaction to Chirac. The french are notorious for it.. right wing one term left wing another blah blah. I know Le Pen is right wing too but like I said it was to kick Chiracs butt into action.
The French people like Chirac, they don't like his policies. Now they have forced him into looking at what really matters - crime, national identity, security and he'll hopefully do something about it. A national front guy snapping at his heels should be enough.
And the so called 'riots' that have been kicking off over the last two nights? Hmm dont believe everything you see or hear, students like to jump on the bandwagon of good causes.
The French people like Chirac, they don't like his policies. Now they have forced him into looking at what really matters - crime, national identity, security and he'll hopefully do something about it. A national front guy snapping at his heels should be enough.
And the so called 'riots' that have been kicking off over the last two nights? Hmm dont believe everything you see or hear, students like to jump on the bandwagon of good causes.
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