Last updated on 2013.05.30
Vive la France! Vive la différence!
France swore in an honest-to-goodness Socialist as its president last week. But if President François Hollande's socialism gets you all wound up, wait until you check out his marital status: he's living in sin!
Yes, Monsieur le Président and his domestic partner Valérie Trierweiler are not married. This arrangement causes a little consternation for diplomatic protocol hawks... to whom Madame la Petite Amie du Président Trierweiler says, essentially, go soak your heads:
Trierweiler said she didn't expect her unmarried status to pose problems, telling an interviewer recently that she's "not sure it will come up all that much."
"Frankly, it really is not an aspect that bothers me," she told the daily Le Figaro. "This question of marriage is above all a part of our private life [Troy McMullen, "Protocol Problem: France's New First Lady Is Not Married to the President," ABCNews.com, 2012.05.16].
Hollande previously cohabitated and fathered four children with Socialist leader Ségolène Royal. When they split in 2007, Hollande said, "I always have been careful to separate politics, which must have principles, rules and foundations, from private life, which must be protected."
Private life... not a political matter... Matt! Do you see your out here?
The nice Socialist couple moving into the Palais de l'Élysée understand something quite useful: the state has no business sticking its nose in marriage... or in other private arrangements between two people who give a darn about each other.
He's not a real socialist, I don't see why you keep marking him as one. I find that even the Communist Party over here (now part of the Front de Gauche) isn't legitimately socialist.
I do however like this quote: "The state has no business sticking its nose in marriage… or in other private arrangements between two people who give a darn about each other," Which hardly sounds socialist at all. Assuming it holds any sort of consistency, I'll gladly accept this as your rejection of most taxes, including estate taxes and gift taxes.
Bonne journée,
Elliot
If there's one thing that the French seem good at, it's separating culture from politics.
That said, I suggest that we Americans think twice before we make our country more like France.
We must certainly avoid becoming cheese-eating surrender monkeys, Sibby.
Personally, I think lots of people worry too much about us being either too much like or too much unlike Europe. We need to stop comparing our culture to theirs as much as we do. Let's just do our own thing with our customs and food and clothes. But I do like some of their politics, and the (non) religious views, but that's just me.
Oops, that's an embarrassing typo. I meant Stan.... Sorry, Stan.
On ne peut pas choisir une reponse, Mr. Heidelberger?
Yes, I'm afraid I overgeneralized. Let's put it this way: the government has no claim over personal affections and commitments. It does have a claim over a portion of the wealth that each of us accumulates and exchanges.
You really could have emphasized that point by saying that a government has a right to intervene to "defend" its own currency via whatever regulations it wants, and that the only thing that gives pieces of paper money any significant value is the government itself. I'm upset you didn't; I wanted to talk about all sorts of fun, non-government currency alternatives and remind everyone how bad monopolies (governmental/non-governmental- they're the same thing) are.