“Why not try Le Pen? Macron won’t do anything for us. He’s just twisting and turning like a flag in the wind,” she added.Macron is a sort of boring centrist who has no grand ideas, but gets the support of the French elite as someone who at least understands economics and wants to remain in the EU. The response from this ordinary voter is, if the establishment has nothing to offer but more of the same, why not try a radical change? Why not try someone who seems to believe in something?
This sort of thinking is an ever-present danger to democracy. My sons expressed similar sentiments last Fall, which led me to give them a little lecture about Venezuela: just because things aren't great doesn't mean they can't get a whole lot worse.
These are such easy question to answer that it makes me worry there is something fundamentally wrong with the askers.
ReplyDeleteWhy not try a radical change?
Because we're talking about the lives of millions of people and stability of entire governments and economies, and history shows us that radical changes are almost always massively destructive and cause untold chaos and suffering to masses of innocent people, often lingering for generations.
"Hey, France! Remember your Revolution?"
Why not try someone who seems to believe in something?
Sure, if you want. But not THESE people, and not THESE beliefs. Why? Because the beliefs these people hold are abominable. You'd seriously vote for a Fascist simply because they shout the loudest and whip up the most fear and anger?
"Hey, France! Remember the passionate beliefs of the German Reich?"
Thing is, Venezuelans chose more of the same establishment in 2013 precisely because it seemed to work for them at the time. Sucks for them.
ReplyDeleteViva Le Pen!
@pithom
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you fail to grasp the staggering irony of your own statements and positions, mocking the Venezuelans for foolishly choosing to rally behind a populist leader, and then immediately turning around and yourself rallying being a different populist leader.
You really don't have even a scrap of self awareness, do you? But I suppose I ought to have already realized that, knowing that you're a foreign minority immigrant to the US who voted for a anti-immigration nativist president.