The French election results are in and Emmanuel Macron, of the En Marche! party defeated Marine Le Pen of the National Front:
On the surface, this seems like a good result, as Le Pen is a far-right candidate and given recent far-right successes in certain Western nations, this is a victory against hate. Unfortunately, Macron isn't exactly a stellar candidate himself, although it's not because of any hatred on his part.
No, the problem with Macron is his political positions and his former job. He used to be a banker, so it's absurd to think that a banker is going to support policies to help the poor. With regards to his policies, he is a supporter of neo-liberalism and the discredited "Third Way" economic policies, both of which are heavily responsible for the rise of the far-right in the West in recent years. Indeed, in 2015 he pushed through economic reforms in France to make it it more "business-friendly" rather than beneficial to workers and residents.
Le Pen might have lost this time around but if Macron doubles-down on the failed policies that have caused the recent far-right resurgence in the West, he risks her or someone like her winning sometime down the road.
When it comes to flat soda to poison, I'm really glad France chose the flat soda. But to be honest Macron was the closest thing the left-wing could hope for during a French election this year. Hollande's policies were not very popular.
ReplyDeleteThat is true.
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