By Gary Wickert
Liberalism and radicalism in France has gone viral, but this is nothing new. A quarter century ago Frenchmen paraded down the Champs-Elyssees, loudly signing La Marseillaise—the quite lengthy French National Anthem—and celebrating the bicentennial of the French Revolution. But the French Revolution was only the beginning of France’s downward spiral into liberal self-cannibalism. As America’s Founding Father John Adams described it, ”Helvetius and Rousseau preached to the French nation liberty, till they made them the most mechanical slaves; equality, till they destroyed all equity; humanity, till they became weasels and African panthers; and fraternity, till they cut one another’s throats like Roman gladiators.”
Shortly after the fall of the Bastille in July of 1789, the French penned “The Declaration of the Rights of Man.” It houses some libertarian principles similar to those found in the Declaration of Independence, but also served as a bellwether for the liberal course the French people had set sail on. It contains Obama-like liberal sound bites such as “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.” Many believe that France’s liberal tendencies and governing problems for the next two-and-a-half centuries can be traced to this document and the mistaken political belief that liberty consisted in being part of a self-governing community rather than the individual right to worship, trade, speak, etc. From that point on, French political philosophy held that the state is the embodiment of the “general will,” which is sovereign and thus unconstrained.
Only a couple of years later, France’s “Reign of Terror” saw this “unconstrained” government take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the state, including priests and noblemen. “Surveillance committees” meted out local terror, price-control measures gutted the economy, and the country saw an anti-Christian fervor tear down the moral principles of the entire nation. France began to look like early 20th Century Soviet Union following the Bolshevik Revolution.
France doubled down on economic and political radicalism during the French Revolution of 1848, leading to wide-spread political disorganization and ambiguity. Fast forward to 2012 and France launched the Union of Democrats and Independents. Shortly thereafter, a socialist, Emmanuel Macron, launched the uber-liberal party La République En Marche!, and was elected President of France in the 2017. The new party formed an alliance with the Democratic Movement, and ejected all conservative Republicans. At the same time, a group of socialists founded The Radical-Socialist Party, later renamed, the Radical Party of the Left.
The French liberal tradition, from Montesquieu to Lefort and Gauchet, has consigned France to a slow and painful death. There is a Communist Party and several Trotskyist parties. There are parties on the right, left and center with silly names like Les Républicains, En Marche, Rassemblement National, and La France Insoumise. But it has no significant party that confesses to being “liberal.” That is because all of these parties are imbued through and through with the French liberal tradition. As pointed out by the French historian Francoise Melonio, “the vision of a largely beneficial, controlling, protecting state has been accepted in France by both Catholics and Socialists, conservatives and radicals, revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries.”
As a result, France is being ravaged by pension obligations, much like liberal cities and states in America. The idea that government will take care of its citizens has led to unrealistic pension promises and an entire nation on the brink of economic collapse as the pension system begins to run deficits. Macron desperately proposed a modest raise in the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, a proposal the vast majority of French citizens oppose and which labor unions are fighting tooth and nail. Macron invoked Article 49.3 of the French Constitution which allows the government to pass a bill without a National Assembly vote. However, the Article also allows a no-confidence vote against the government.
Reminiscent of Kamala Harris’ promises of affordable homes, $25,000 down payment assistance, business start-up handouts, and other goodies paid by taxpayers, the French government over-promised what it could do. It must now engage in a sort of permanent coup d’état. The only other options, which would have been equally unfavorable, would be to lower pension payments or drastically raise taxes, the latter of which is unthinkable in a country which ranked number one in terms of the tax-to-GDP ratio in 2023. It already has one of the world’s lowest retirement ages and highest spending on pensions.
In 2023, the country was racked with violent protests by over one million people and today, with a no confidence vote looming, for the first time in decades, a government is at risk of being overthrown. If the no confidence vote succeeds, Macron will remain president but will have to appoint a new prime minister. The country’s instability, along with a similar instability growing in Germany, has put the European financial markets on unstable footing.
France lacks the democratic foundation America enjoys. It appears that the majority within its liberal government is willing to put the interest of individuals above that of the future of the country. That is the inherent danger of focusing on what your country can do for you. America dodged a bullet on November 5. But it too, is only one election cycle away from chaos.