Re: French Join In on Anti-France Bandwagon

"CB" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schreef in bericht
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> The cross reference of ideas is the key to imagination (playboy quote from
> the 80's).
>

So you buy it for the articles, then?
Anyway, this quote is not so applicable here, since so far you hardly have
contributed any ideas of your own, but merely regurgited your "fair and
balanced" propaganda.

> Believe it or not, France sitting on the UN Security Council has relevance
> to how the French think of their own leader. Or does French leadership not
> form policy based on public opinion?

Well, yes. As should be. Otherwise that "leadership" may lose something
called "elections" (Of course, that isn't something George W. Bush needs to
worry about, as we saw in 2000).

> Isn't France a Socialist Democracy

No. What in Heaven's name gives you that idea? In case you didn't notice,
they currently have a conservative President with a conservative majority in
the National Assembly. And they act accordingly: cutting welfare benefits,
increasing military spending and wrapping themselves in the flag. The
*French* flag, of course.

> which values popular opinion over Legislative mandate?

Huh? The legislative mandate (which, BTW, in the US is held by Congress, not
the President) is derived from popular opinion, as expressed in elections.
In France as much as in the US. Unless you mean that the outcome of
elections in the US these days has nothing to do with public opinion, which
I doubt to be your point, even if it could be true.

If your point is that in France public displays of opinion, such as
demonstrations and strikes, are more popular than in the US, you may be
right. This doesn't mean that they are more effective.

And this, BTW, doesn't have anything to do at all with Socialism, a word
whose definition you appear to ignore.

 In other words,
> doesn't the will of the people trickle up as far as influencing the UN
> through it's ambassadors?
>

As it should be, the people being sovereign. Or are you advocating for the
return of absolute monarchy? I thought both France and the US got rid of it
a long time ago...

R.