Uh-oh: Emmanuel ‘anti-establishment’ Macron joins the establishment
Within minutes of polling the highest vote tally of the French Presidential hopefuls, the Independent Emmanuel Macron received a slew of endorsements from the defeated conservatives, socialists and communists, as well as the leaders of the EU, the media and even the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Welcome to the Establishment M. Macron. The outpouring of relief from the Establishment that, with their help, a ‘Centrist’ will likely lead France must be music to the runner-ups ears. Macron rode to first place with a protest vote against the Establishment. These voters will desert him in droves now that the Establishment has endorsed him. Marine Le Pen is the only anti-Establishment choice on the ticket now.
Of course, the last thing France needs is a Centrist government since this will just entrench the failed policies that have caused the current economic malaise. France needs a complete microeconomic restructuring, from labour laws to taxes to policies which stem the brain drain. Macron would never attempt this.
I have said it before and I will say it again: voters are greedy and precocious. The French electorate conforms to this particularly well. 5 years ago, greed led them to vote for the old style Keynesian-Socialist ‘something for nothing’, Robin Hood (tax the rich and spend) policies of Hollande et al. This was a precocious action as well since they kicked out a perfectly fine Centrist, Nicholas Sarkozy. The Socialist experiment didn’t work.
This time around it seems Marine Le Pen is promising riches and unconventional social policies. Macron is promising to make the government more efficient…hmmm.
So who gets the greedy-precocious vote this time? Le Pen of course