My dear brother, Lucas Weeks, on the election in France:
"Tim, I know that French politics isn't exactly something that you get excited over, but I thought that you'd find this excerpt from the New York Times to be of interest. As background, the French have just had their first round of presidential elections in which "Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative, and Ségolène Royal (a woman), the Socialist, won the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, setting up a classic left-right contest next month between two candidates with competing visions of how to govern France."
Here is what I found interesting:"
Both have choleric characters and have portrayed themselves as victims. “I am covered in scars,” Mr. Sarkozy said just last week, while Ms. Royal repeatedly has charged that she is being treated unfairly because she is a woman.
Mr. Sarkozy is a pragmatist who took a tough law-and-order approach as interior minister. He believes that France will progress only if its people work harder and has promised to lower personal and corporate taxes, eliminate obstacles to job creation but at the same time protect French corporations from foreign competition.
Ms. Royal is a natural nurturer who pushes the ideal of “participatory democracy,” reduction of the powers of the presidency and the maintaining of France’s generous social welfare system and strong state involvement in the economy.
