IT'S THE FOUNDATION THAT'S ROTTEN, NOT THE STRUCTURE ABOVE:

Toward a New Republic (DANIEL JOHNSON, May 10, 2007, NY Sun)

"What France needs is a revolution." Every Frenchman I have talked to during the recent election campaign said something like this. The women are in an even more revolutionary mood than the men, which is why a majority of them turned down the opportunity to elect their first female president.

During the 231 years of the American republic, France has had two empires, three monarchies, and five republics — not counting various occupations, the Paris Commune, and the Vichy regime. The present fifth republic has lasted longer than any of the others, but it has come close to collapse several times since 1968. Many people feel that only a new republic now can save France.

As much as the French love their revolutions, however, nowhere else is a revolution so likely to turn on its leaders as in France. Take just one example — Napoleon's Hundred Days. Remember how the deposed emperor merely had to return from Elba, virtually alone, for the restored Bourbons to flee their throne without a shot being fired? Yet all those who cheered "Vive l'empereur!" deserted him after Waterloo. No nation is as eager to hymn its revolutionaries one day and guillotine them the next.

Even so, few would have predicted that Mr. Sarkozy's honeymoon as president-elect would last less than 48 hours. On Sunday night alone, more than 1,000 cars were burned across France — and that is a gross underestimate. The riots have continued since. By yesterday, the mutterings of a nascent reaction could be heard: "Paris is burning — and where is Sarko? Sunning himself on a billionaire's yacht in the Mediterranean! He's just like all the others."

Nobody knows whether Mr. Sarkozy will be true to his instincts, but they seem to be remarkably sensible. A pro-American president with a penchant for horseback riding is unlikely to sneer President Bush as a "cowboy" — as so many of his countrymen do.

So long as egalitie is the premise of their system they'll never get the rest right.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2007 12:33 PM