Tuesday, April 24, 2007

France Run-Off: Hitler vs. Hope


Next week, France will arguably decide on its most important election in 50 years in a battle between center-right and center-left: it's the run-off of




vs.



A battle between a ruthless xenophobic Bushler and an intellectual mother-of-four.

Will France lead the world in turning against aggressive, hateful, divisive politics or will it follow its nemesis Germany by electing an ugly angry beast to office? This is France's chance to be a leader for the first time in a long time, let's see how they decide on May 6.

What's most interesting about this election, though, are the profiles of these candidates:

Sarkozy is a 2nd-generation Hungarian immigrant (on his father's side) of Jewish ancestry (on his mother's side) who was raised as an angry Catholic who blamed all his misery on foreigners (as ironic as that is). A couple years ago, his wife left him for another man, during which time he took up with a younger woman, and then they both reunited for the chance at sharing the paltry glory of ruling France.

Royal is a mother-of-four children with a man she has been living with since the 1970's but to whom she is not married. She once sued her own father for refusing to divorce his mother and pay alimony to her. She often diverges from her party's main platforms and is seen as more of a centrist than a leftist in her ideology and policies.

With these backgrounds alone, these two individuals would have been stuck in a second-rate, low-profile State Department job at best in the United States! It's an amazing commentary on French social values.

In any case, let's hope that anger and bitterness do not surpass reason and intellect in the second-round -- conservatives worldwide seem not to realize that voting for a conservative means EVERYONE's rights are impeded on, not just the people who conservatives hate.

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