Macron May Have Just Emerged as the New Leader of the West

Given that Trump has retreated into fear and nationalism, Macron may emerge as the new leader of the West.

In April of 2016, Macron founded his En Marche party.

In April of 2017, Macron won the election that put him against Marine Le Pen in the May runoff election to become president of France.

In April of 2018, Macron addressed US Congress in the most articulate defense of post-WWII West since Trump was sworn in.

The guy just hit 40 in December.

To appreciate what a surprising character he is, consider this:
The American Macron is 37 and still 18 months away from starting her new political party before winning the 2020 presidential election.

Macron spent a fair bit of the speech articulating his beliefs which should have made most audiences say, "Yeah, well obviously" just 5 years ago but today smack of controversy because of what Trump has forced on us. Here are a couple of passages that deserve consideration.

I believe in democracy....To protect our democracies, we have to fight against the ever-growing virus of fake news, which exposes our people to irrational fear and imaginary risks. ...Without reason, without truth, there is no real democracy -- because democracy is about true choices and rational decisions. The corruption of information is an attempt to corrode the very spirit of our democracies.

I believe in concrete action. I believe the solutions are in our hands.I believe in the liberation of the individual, and in the freedom and responsibility of everyone to build their own lives and pursue happiness.
I believe in the power of intelligently-regulated market economies. We are experiencing the positive impact of our current economic globalization, with innovation, with job creation. We see, however, the abuses of globalized capitalism, and digital disruptions, which jeopardize the stability of our economies and democracies.I believe facing these challenges requires the opposite of massive deregulation and extreme nationalism.Commercial [Trade] war is not the proper answer to these evolutions. We need free and fair trade, for sure. A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments to global security. At the end of the day, it would destroy jobs, increase prices, and the middle class will have to pay for it.I believe we can build the right answers to legitimate concerns regarding trade imbalances, excesses and overcapacities, by negotiating through the World Trade Organization and building cooperative solutions.We wrote these rules; we should follow them....
I believe in building a better future for our children, which requires offering them a planet that is still habitable in 25 years.

The full transcript is here:

http://www.elysee.fr/declarations/article/transcription-du-discours-du-president-de-la-republique-emmanuel-macron-devant-le-congres-des-etats-unis-d-amerique/ 

Clinton, Dubya, and Trump were all born within months of each other. It seems that we're past the expiration date on that "boomers as leader" model and I'm getting excited about the prospect of turning things over to the younger generation.

Vive la France!

The Bill of Rights and the Difference Between Modern Republicans and Democrats

The first two amendments to the constitution regard freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. All you may need to know about the modern Republican and Democratic parties might be summarized in these simple stats: 31% more Republicans than Democrats think the US has gone too far in expanding freedom of the press and 32% more Democrats than Republicans think the government should ban high-capacity magazines. Republicans are threatened by free speech and Democrats are threatened by automatic weapons.

Here are the differences between Republicans and Democrats in regards to gun policy:

Here are the differences between Republicans and Democrats in regards to freedom of the press. 42% of Republicans think that freedom of the press has gone too far.

This is a wildly incoherent thought, one that is fueled by Trump's incessant attacks on #fakenews. So much about this is bizarre (how would you even regulate speech or "the press" in this modern world?) but perhaps the weirdest thing is that this isn't about the genuinely fake news of folks like Alex Jones who Donald Trump has praised (and who recently had a guest on claiming that NASA is shipping children up to Mars where they are forced to work as slaves) but instead about the real news of folks like the New York Times and Washington Post who continually reveal that Trump tells the truth only about 25% of the time. What convinces Republicans that the press has gone too far is not actual fake news but instead good reporting that reveals Trump's disinterest in facts or evidence.

Democrats think that guns are dangerous and should be better regulated. Republicans think that ideas are dangerous and should be better regulated.


First amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Second amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.