As the big countdown clock on the television screen counted down, the results were Hollande 52 percent and Sarkozy 48 percent. The small crowd in the 20-seat restaurant cheered. My wife and I were sitting at a window table in a French restaurant in the Latin quarter of Paris having dinner when the election results were broadcast.
“You seem happy, Monsieur Antoine,” I asked the owner, who also served as the maître de and waiter.
“Yes, this will bring good changes to our country,” he said. “More jobs will be created. It will mean more taxes for most people, me included, but it will be better for the country.”
President Francois Hollande, a socialist, vowed to move France forward with more spending to create jobs, which in turn would promote better economic growth and more tax money.
Can you imagine somebody thinking about the good of his country as opposed to his own take-home pay like Antoine did? We all know the French are a little nuts, right?
Or are they?
Back home, our own aristocracy passed the budget of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in the House of Representatives, which, if enacted, would further destroy the life of us peasants while giving more to the privileged class to put more filigree on their mansions.
Nowhere in the several articles I read about the French elections were candidates lobbing charges at each other about religion, how they view gays and marriage, bashing the unions, abortion issues, women’s right to health care or how the laws would be different depending upon which geographic region of France you live in.
Nowhere was there a discussion about a candidate’s race, religion, ethnic background or any other issue that preoccupies the media in this country. Television election run-up coverage carried the facts without the crazy rhetoric, lies, swagger, yelling and screaming, or the carrying of guns to rallies.
The race was about who had a better vision for the country and how he would proceed to carry out that vision. Very refreshing.
The crazy antics that go on here are laughable. We, like France, have our own aristocracy willing to put more decoration on their castles rather than give up their fair share of tax dollars to promote a workable society. They are willing to put more burdens on the peasants than the peasants can stand. Their attitude is indeed one of “let them eat cake.”
We see some rumblings of discontent in our streets in the form of Occupy Wall Street, the backlash against anti-union legislation in Wisconsin and the calls for more regulation on the bankers who play roulette with our money and take our houses away when their gambling goes sour. We see how the Citizens United case allowed the flow of millions of dollars into the coffers of the aristocracy candidates to keep them in power.
It is time we wake up and have our own revolution in this country and sweep out our own aristocracy. It is time we bring this country back to where it works for everybody instead of just the privileged few. If we peasants unite, we can do this. We deserve a country that works for everyone.
Let’s go create it.
Tyler Cassell
Flushing
