Having participated actively in all the French presidential elections for forty years now, I never expected to one day witness such an ill-fated campaign as the one in which our country is sinking into today. It makes me cry with rage and anger. And I know I am not the only one.
For what is happening here is a farce that is not merely the chance product of circumstances, which seem to continue to stand in the way to make it pitiful. It is the long-standing result of a decay of the French political system, which for at least thirty years indulged in inaction, locked into the rivalries between individuals, big and small compromises; corruption, open or tacit. We will die from all this.
The French understand it well, a majority of whom would like to be able to vote for a candidate other than all those running for elections today, without being able to say his name. They would like to be offered a serious, coherent program with a very quick timetable for implementation. They would like to have honest and experienced leaders.
They are well aware that it is not in the ego-based pathetic power struggles of the candidates that the solution to their daily problems can be found, and especially those of their children. They understand well that most politicians do not have an absolute love, body and soul, for their country, but that they love only themselves and the honors they covet.
They sense that the country is sinking deeper and deeper into the void left by inaction.
First, we have lost years, probably twenty years, following the procrastination and carelessness of our political leaders. And today, it is beginning to be felt. Our public debt has never been higher, certainly since 1945. Youth unemployment has never lasted longer. Our balance of payments has never continued to show such deficits. There have never been so many teenagers leaving the school system without knowing how to read, write and count. Our hospitals, our schools, have never been so overworked and overtasked, with little means. Technical progress has never required so many political choices. The ecological environment and geopolitical climate have never been so threatening since 1945.
In response, what do we hear? Nothing. And today’s election campaign can only mean one thing: politicians know that they do not have the answer to these questions, that they do not have the character or the competence to face these storms and they preferred to stage the disastrous show of egos competition, rather than talking to us about these difficult subjects.
There are no simple answers to the challenges facing France. Nothing will be done without effort. All this assumes there is a lucid analysis, a clear awareness of the positions of our allies and opponents, a coherent, clear, comprehensive and ambitious program to be implemented immediately. With the utmost of integrity, a capacity to impose choices, on the powerful of the world and their blackmail. Experience in the exercise of power and an ability to dare to try new things.
Our political leaders, and those who aspire to become so, never talk about it. And, when they talk about it, they are not heard.
The French political class is much like unworthy parents who would rather listen to music louder than hear their children’s shouting.
One day, soon, the children will get their revenge.