Here are some invectives you want: left-wing Nazis, right-wing populists, anti-Semites, genocidaires, terrorists, Islamo-leftists, neocolonialists, far-left and far-right fascists, xenophobes, racists, anti-republicans, apprentice sorcerers of the dissolution…
The political world does not skimp on words and expressions to disqualify the adversary, make him unapproachable and in a certain way lower the foundations of our Republic. The excesses of public debate are exacerbated as the legislative elections approach.
According to some, more than 50% of voters would vote for the extremes, on the right and the left. According to some, France has become anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, populist. According to polls, more than 40% of practicing Catholics are in favor of the ideas defended by the extreme right.
Frédéric Joly: “What is deeply in crisis is the concern to name things correctly”
It would be only at the centre of the political spectrum that we would find the authentic republicans, composed of the forces that still support Emmanuel Macron, but who now represent only 14% of voters in the European elections, socialists, communists and environmentalists for around 21% of the votes, and only half of the right-wing Les Républicains for 3.5% of the votes. That is, according to the results of the European elections, only around 40% of French voters would cast their votes for the republican movements.
Find the dialogue
With such an approach, equipped with such a vision, how can we defend democracy and the values usually attached to it? How can we continue to talk to each other without insulting the future? How can we find the path to fraternity, one of the three founding values of our Republic?
Hasn’t the political debate gone a little too far by playing on the fears and feelings that the adversary could arouse? Isn’t the political vocabulary, boosted by political communication and the soundbites that go with it, increasingly out of step with reality? Isn’t the political class killing the dialogue that is necessary for democracy?
Bishop Wintzer: “With regard to the Christian faith, no party meets all expectations”
Perhaps we should come back to our senses, try to talk to each other again, to build together instead of running the exclusion machine in all circumstances. And above all try to find words that come close to reality in order to leave behind the invective and stigmatization at all costs.
Hate and demagoguery
Yes, Emmanuel Macron has made mistakes since he became President of the Republic, but nothing can justify so much hatred towards him. Unemployment has fallen but public accounts have deteriorated. As for the National Rally (RN), it is true that its discourse has softened, that it respects the democratic game by participating in elections, even if one can always have doubts about its real intentions on the identity level, once it has come to power. As for La France insoumise (LFI), we can clearly see that its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has lost his way in the political debate, essentially for electoral reasons. However, is the majority of the LFI troops really on the same line?
Legislative elections 2024: “It is urgent to put the common good back at the center of the debates”
Regarding the political programs proposed to us by the three major political blocs present during the legislative elections on June 30 and July 7, it is impossible to take them seriously. They were developed urgently. They are most often demagogic and unfunded to varying degrees. They do not fit with the financial situation of France, which has been spending too much for too long. It is not by taking from the “rich” that we will be able to redistribute much more to the working classes and increase the purchasing power of the most deprived. The language of truth would be that we agree so that public authorities spend less and better, directing the necessary redistribution towards those who need it most.
Restore order
On the sovereign level, rightly or wrongly, the French feel and some are convinced that the authority of the State and the rules laid down by our Republic are being flouted. It would be appropriate to put the French house in order. This demand for authority, for respect for the rules, all political movements must hear it. If no credible response is provided on this level, the French will continue to feel insecure, which is not good for democracy.
That a country and even more so a regional area like the European Union can no longer control its borders poses a major problem. We can indeed defend an open society, a society of exchange, a society of free movement of people and goods. On the other hand, this welcome openness should hardly rhyme with openness to all traffic, to all abuses, to all manipulations. Openness must not be achieved to the detriment of the protection of people and property.
Olivier Abel: “There is a profound cultural, even civilizational, insecurity in France”
The problem of immigration, the essential fuel for the vote for the National Rally and Reconquest!, must be approached from this angle. Is it in our interest to benefit from a continuous migratory flow according to our economic needs, without plundering the human resources of the countries of origin? Yes, certainly. On the other hand, should we accept illegal immigration as a necessary evil? Certainly not. It is from this ambiguity on the policies to follow that the amalgams between foreigners and delinquency, foreigners and loss of control of our future identity are born.
The dialogue rediscovered with everyone, whatever their political opinions, whatever their origins, on the real questions that structure our common future (openness and protection, respect for rules, ecology, redistribution, etc.) should be the main ferment of our democracy. Our living together depends on it.
► Find, as soon as they are officially published, the results of the 1st round of the 2024 legislative elections in your constituency.
