Why I'm Not Sorry That Sarko is Prez

First, thank you all for your comments to my last post. Many of you have opinions similar to mine.

Second, let me say that my politics are different in France and in the U.S. Here I'm a bleedin' liberal; in France I am more conservative.

While I think France is great for some things like health care and elementary education, I think it needs to change as regards business and unemployment. Other people have talked about these things with much more clarity than I can.

Thirteen years in a country gives you time to observe things. I remember busting my butt working three jobs (and I had two kids under the age of six) while my neighbor across the street pretended she was a single mother. Her welfare family allowance equaled the sum of my wages.

I watched my ex-husband struggle to build a business under the crushing weight of taxation.
I listened to my students tell me they wanted to be fonctionnaires, because "at least "it's a stable job." Twenty percent of the workforce in France works for the government.
(Full disclosure: I am a fonctionnaire, on personal leave from my teaching job.)

I was part of the forgotten middle class of France: those who earn "too much" to benefit from any aid (other than the standard family allowance that every family with two or more children receives regardless of income), yet who struggle each month to make ends meet. I prefer not to go into any more detail than that on my former situation.

Sure, taxes have to be paid, so that people can benefit from the great health care (I will never forget either of my 5-day hospital stays in a private room, when I gave birth), so that children can attend all-day preschool from age three on, so that the unemployed have something to fall back on, and the destitute are not left on their own.

It's nearly impossible to make any money in France. I know money is not the be-all and end-all of life. But it sure would be nice to get ahead when you work hard. It would be nice to have a job that paid a living wage, and not just *that* much more than your unemployment benefits. ("Hmmm, I get 1000 euros a month in unemployment, and this job is going to pay 1200/month before taxes? Can you say 'no-brainer'?")

During my time in France, I never felt like I was getting ahead, not even after I got my teacher certification and just had the ONE job. I was earning more, but that extra money was being eaten up by my car, because I was posted to a job 45 miles away from home (once you're in the system, you don't choose where you work). I was spending more than 200 euros a month on gas.

I feel like France is stagnating, and something has to change. Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be the only person who is ready to help France change. As for his politics about immigration...well, I was an immigrant in France. And I worked hard to integrate into French society. Granted, I had a college degree (but that got me nothing but teaching jobs: "Communications? But what can you DO? Oh, you speak English? You can teach!") and hey, my skin is white. As my ex-husband once said, when I pointed out that I was an immigrant, "Oui, mais t'es pas une bougnoule."  Nice, huh? (Non-French speakers, bougnoul is to (north) African as wetback is to Mexican.) Anyway, I still had an uphill climb.

Now I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I know that lots of French people are afraid of what Sarkozy will do. His talk of eugenics was a bit out there, I agree. But, and please pardon the analogy, the French need to learn that they can't have their cake and eat it, too. On ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre!

France needs jobs. Point barre. France needs jobs that pay well, so that the economy can function. Some things are going to have to change, yes. They sure can't continue the way they've been going.

Comments

[Michael C]

I'll admit I know very little about France and I found this post and your perspective to be very insightful into something I don't know much about. Granted there are a lot of things I don't know much about, but now I feel a little more versed about France.
;-)

[Margaret]

Perfectly explained. Something must change, but people will fight its impact on their perks, vacations, wages, benefits, etc... That's the problem with reform. We'll have to see how it goes. Le nouveau president will show some tact, I hope.

[Jennifer]

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Betty C.]

Integration of immigrants is a big, big problem in France. I always find it ironic that they go on and on about the horrible racism in the USA -- they all seem stuck in the 60s on that one! My daughter is studying all about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King in her English class -- certainly interesting subjects -- but with documents from the 60s!

Sarkozy has said some incendiary things about the banlieues, and one of my questions about him is whether it stems from any racism or just a desire to change the status quo, which definitely can't continue as it is...

[samantha]

I agreed - France needs change, and this will only come about by freeing up the job market and encouraging companies to hire, instead of weighing them down with social charges. Whether Sarko will be able to bring about these changes is another question - he will probably try, but will he succeed?

And Fab and I were just talking last night about what a funny feeling it is to never get ahead - to have spent over three years here and have worked hard, but yet still feel like no progress has been made. All of our French friends are in the same situation, even if they're lucky enough to have a job. We're always just living paycheck to paycheck, whereas in the US, we were able to put quite a bit of money aside every month. It's very frustrating, and something I'd never experienced before moving to France.

[samantha]

PS. Sorry for the typos!!

[Katherine]

That all makes sense to me, thanks for the good explaination.

[andie]

Preach it sister! I couldn't agree with you more. I, too, am way more conservative in France than in the US. Can't help it, but I have the American work ethic (even though I won't complain about all the vacation here), and it is frustrating that 'work' is not really recognized here and you are stuck in one place if you can even get a place in the work force. And, let's not talk about the mentality of the civil servants- why work when you aren't valued for it? I, like you were, am tired of living from pay check to pay check. And, I hear you on the middle class struggle. Take the crèche, for example. We don't earn little enough to benefit from getting a place almost automatically, but we don't earn enough to hire a nanny, so we're pretty much screwed. As my husband says, we might as well both quit working and then we could get an apartment for 100 m2 by benefiting from the HLM system.

Anyway, one of the reasons I am about to resort to praying for this job is because it is one of the few that does pay a decent salary so that we could theoretically stop living from paycheck to paycheck and borrowing money from the MIL. But, I am not getting my hopes up, and my only hope for both our future and France's is that Sarko can bring about the changes France desperately needs.

Vive le changement!

[Elisabeth]

I have never lived as an adult in France, really. That's one reason why I would like to get a sabbatical year from my university and live in my native country during that time - if only to try to understand what's going on there.

I am very cynical about the American "work ethic" - the great myth that hard work will get you out of the hole. I am not sure what Sarko can get accomplished, but he's got to do something to fight the latent racism that is well and alive in France. A French exchange student at my school, who happened to be a Beurette, and also a graduate from a very good French Business School, told me this horror story about interviewing on the phone for an internship (her name, by the way, does not sound North African), and making such a good impression that she was called in for a face-to-face interview. The minute the prospective employer saw her, the game was over for her. Now, how do you deal with that?

Of course, I am also a bit conflicted about those who abuse the system. My father did it quite well, to a point, and I was constantly revolted by his attitude that the government "owed him."

Anyway, I cannot be a good judge of what's going on in France. Sarko scares me, but maybe he'll be good for a country and the people he claims to love.

BTW, many Americans are also just "getting by" and living paycheck to paycheck. I think that it's another story when it comes to small business owners, or to those who want to start their own business, it is very tough, from what I understand, to do that in France. The system seems to perpetuate inertia.

[ALY]

My college thesis was on the history of immigration from Algeria to France...so immigration is my focus, and I WAS a little concerned about the things I heard from (and about) this guy. Plus, I have seen (and heard) some things in France (regarding North Africans) that made my skin crawl.
However, I think you're absolutely right about the economic situation--Something must be done. So many of my friends who graduated the same year that I did struggled for YEARS to find a job, and they still make less than the unemployed. The system encourages laziness and does not reward personal initiative. That's a recipe for economic stagnation. I hope this guy will really be able to make a difference on that point. I'll keep my fingers crossed on the immigration issue!

[b]

Very insightful post and comments. I too confess that I am not adequately informed about these French matters.

It seems in general (whether it be the U.S. or France or any other ruling body for that matter) that one issue is addressed at the sake of another when it comes to politics, unfortunately.

I truly hope this is a positive change for France.

[Doc]

Even when you get down to the nitty-gritty of his immigration policy (according to what I understood from one of his last speeches before the debate) he doesn't want to cut off immigration, he just wants to make sure every immigrant BRINGS something to France instead of coming to live off the government tit, something that, as an American, I find to be common sense--it seems to basically be our policy over there, too. And most of his 'inflaming' statements have more to do with removing said tit than anything else. Funnily enough, the folks in the volatile suburbs registered and voted in numbers never before seen, and while Sarko didn't get the majority of the vote in some of those areas, he got a significant chunk of it--something that might suggest that those folks too are tired of the same old same old.
Now we just have to wait and see if France is really ready for change when they vote in the legislative elections....

[FGIF]

SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY. LQQK AT WHAT HE DID AS SOON AS HE WAS ELECTED. PRIVATE JET, PRIVATE YACHT, FROM HIS RICH INDUSTRALIST FRIENDS...I WAS A REP FOR 30 YRS....NOW SARKO IS ANOTHER BUSH AND MY WIFE SAYS HE REMINDS HER OF THE LITTLE MAN WITH A MUSTASCH FROM ALLEMAND.....TIME WILL TELL!!!!
I HOPE HE IS DIFFERENT, BUT I AM NOT AS CONFIDENT AS YOU.....

[Kim]

Thank you for your text ! I am a French born immigrant that decided to immigrate to Australia. I think the situation in my country made things so impossible for many of us like you explained it so well. Young educated middle class, second generation immigrants and young French, are now about 2 millions overseas. We are fleeing our country to make our dreams come true.
What French people and maybe journalists seem to have forgotten is that Sarkozy is the first immigrant born president! His father was Hungarian. His grand father was Jewish. All his political attitude towards immigration are shared by immigrants like you. But as well by immigrants from eastern Europe, the Maghreb, West Africa, Asia, we are trying hard to integrate, to live in this fantastic secular country and to restart our life.
The Left-caviar, from their hotels particulier in chic areas, has been manipulating the suburbian cliche for too long, ...that explains why people now are voting massively for Sarkozy.
Sarkozy talks to people about their life, their work, their mortgage and their retirement. The French Left hallucinate into its dreamworld from another age...playing with scarecrows that only frighten brainless students.

[sunshinecity]

Oh I so empathize with the French situation. This here in Italy are as good and as bad...
We have so many great things. The Welfare state is such a great thing. But the future for the young, for people just starting out alone, leaving home, hoping to start a career.... forget it. It's very desolating.
The sad thing about Italy, though, either way you look on the political map, it's all just as stale and stagnant as the other.

[madame l.]

i've been thinking about your post since you posted it.

it amazes me that the middle class falls for the same old crap over and over both here in france and in the u.s.
fake compassionate but firm father figures always win and succeed into hoodwinking the middle class into thinking they will be more safe. the only people that are going to be safe with sarko are the very rich. history has proven this time and time again. in the u.s. the only people benefiting from bush's reign are the very very rich who are getting richer at unprecedented rates. meanwhile the middle class languishes and house repossessions are at an all time high. how many u.s. children are uninsured?

yes, be afraid of the immigrants, they are trying to steal your jobs. etc etc.
look how hard you're working and these people are living off the state. sarko is banking on the fact that every middle class person has this kind of knee-jerk response. divide and conquer. hitler used that old chestnut to great effect.

it's not hard to realise why bush, newt gingrich and johnny hallyday are so chuffed that sarko got elected. i think royal is an ass too, but at least she doesn't see herself as napoleon or take money for a cruise and a private jet from the richest private businessmen in the land to visit malta! he'll be living in the louvre next.

and at least she didn't pretend to offer amnesty to immigrants with children in school, have them all register with their local police and then cut off the amnesty at 6,924 places.... and Then use the information that these further thousands of people gave in good faith to expel them from france. yeah, the eugenics is a Bit scary is an understatement.

maybe they should just tie all their legs together and throw them and their genetically deficient children in the seine like they did to undesirables during the algerian war. unbelievable.

newsflash: economic growth and social concern are not mutually exclusive.

mark my words, this man is a monster.

[Sarah Wooden]

I couldn't agree more with madame I. We are all so convinced that we are being taken advantage of. I am middle class, I live in France. I an able to buy food, take vacations, go shopping, visit parks and museums. I work part-time teaching English, not great pay. My husband is musician and starting a company, not great pay. Do you know the real numbers about how many people are actually "living off of the government?" Very few. Everyone has their story of their neighbor next door but do you know the real story?

They have convinced us not to care. They have convinced us that the little old lady across the street, the single mom, the unemployed factory worker are not our problems. They should have saved money. They shouldn't have gotten pregnant. They shouldn't have worked for a factory.(A factory that was moved to Eastern Europe where the people can be exploited.) They have convinced us of this because we, the middle class, we need more money. We need to buy more things. We need another car. We need a bigger house. (I am sorry but just the idea of classes is a form of oppression.)

What about human solidarity? What about caring for people? When you were living here, were you really poor? Do you know what it feels like to be truly oppressed and a lower class citizen?

(I feel passionate. As I recently wrote to a friend, I actually don't care about left or right or this election. I want something much deeper. A complete overhaul of the system. I want a world where people care about one another and not just themselves. I want a world where it is isn't about the "haves" and the "have-nots." I don't know how to get there but I have to believe that it will exist someday.)

[Hattie]

It is true, in our case, that we did not have any great financial success in the 15 years we lived in Europe (Switzerland). What we did have was a nice standard of living in pleasant surroundings, good schooling for our kids, great holidays. A cultivated way of life. When we came back to the U.S., we were able to acquire property and save money but we also had to pay the customary small fortune it costs to send child to college and graduate school.
Lucky we have savings now, because we are on the verge of old age and so have to put aside sums for possible catastropic illness, natural disaster or any other such bad luck.
And the lack of public goods here in general grinds me. I miss the wonderful public transport. I also miss shopping streets. We're better on open markets now, but they are a pale imitation of what is available in any old town in Europe, especially in France and Spain. I returned to the U.S. because I felt thwarted in my personal ambitions, and I really understand that aspect of what people say. Nonetheless, I feel the need to go back to Europe at least once every two years just to experience those simple pleasures of everyday life: the street cafes, the various doings of Europeans, and of course our old friends.
Well, this seems pretty nostalgic, all right. I'm going to France and Italy in October and can hardly wait.