Week 14: Dear French Voters

Dear French Voters,

Bonjour! It’s me, your old friend, the American voter. Long time no write. I’ve been thinking a lot about us lately, so I decided to write you a letter. After all, we’re the ones that started this whole “democratic republic” thing.  

So many memories. Heck, if it wasn’t for you guys, we still might be part of Great Britain, ruled by a king! Can you imagine that? Your Enlightenment thinkers like Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and so many others were the architects of both our revolutions. Those were challenging times but we both pulled though. You guys had our back when we fought off the Brits, and man we were cheering for you as you stormed the Bastille. Vive la République!

This whole “democratic republic” thing has not been easy. We’ve both had our missteps and learning curves. It took us a while to realize that ALL the people in our nation deserve the rights we set aside in the “Bill of Rights,” and you guys struggled with the whole colonial thing. I guess we’re both still working through those issues. But, we’ve had some good times too. Like, when you guys got us the Statue of Liberty. Best Gift Ever! And I don’t mean to brag, but we bailed you guys out, not once, but twice last century. You’re welcome.

So, here we are in 2017. What a whirlwind! It’s been a crazy 200+ years to say the least. But look at what we’ve done. We’re not perfect. We can admitted that. However, we have started a whole new form of government, one that most of the world uses now, BTW. On top of that, more people in the world have a say in how they are governed than anytime in history. How cool is that?

This is why I’m writing you: I’m scared. I’m worried about the future of our democratic republics. We messed up over here. We allowed fear to get in the way of our values, and we elected a president that doesn’t seem to understand or value our system of government. It’s like Montesquieu developed the idea of the “separation of powers” specifically for this guy. He signs executive orders that clearly go against our Constitution and then gets upset when the judicial branch blocks the orders. He doesn’t seem interested in working with the legislative branch at all. Instead of compromising to get a health care bill passed (that we really need passed BTW), he didn’t get his way, so he quit. We got ourselves into this mess and hopefully we can get ourselves out. But you guys have an opportunity this week to avoid this mess altogether. As an old friend, I felt like I had to write you to warn you. I’d hate to see you going through what were going through.

Don’t let fear get in the way of your values like we did. Take a look back at your Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and your Constitution. Here’s a quote from the preamble:  

France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.

Think long and hard about your two options. Which candidate is going to defend those values? Listen to what they say and go back and read what they have said. We didn’t think that our new president meant the crazy things that he was saying but then when he got into office we realized that he did. Don’t make the same mistake that we did.

The world is teetering right now… and we need you to set it straight. We had our chance and we blew it. We’re counting on you, France, to make a stance for equality and justice. Be the world’s Statue of Liberty!

Your Old Friend,

The American Voter