The French may not have the first democracy, may not have the best democracy, but they have had to fight harder than most for their democracy.
- paraphrasing from an audio tour by Rick Steves, I think.
Edit: oops, i flipped words in the title
The French were fighting and an inspiration for US independence.
Rousseau, for one, spoke of sovereignty residing not in a monarch, but in the people as a group, and of the need to craft laws for the general good. Thomas Jefferson’s rhetoric (including “All men are created equal”) owed much to Rousseau. However, the drafters of the U.S. Constitution may have been most inspired by the Baron de Montesquieu, who argued in his treatise The Spirit of the Laws that avoiding despotism required a government of checks and balances.
Without the ideas of these French philosophers to inspire them in tough times, it’s hard to imagine the revolution succeeding.
What a title…
It kind of reads like they’re implying that the US are the founders of democracy and the ones that perfected it but the French are trying to get on their level.
No, more like the US’s revolution likely wouldn’t have succeeded if it wasn’t for the French support.
France’s revolution attempted for a democracy but that got twisted and they got Emperor Napoleon, so then they had to fight again.
Edit: And today the US and France are again fighting similar political battles so it feels like the strong support from a French person has a long history.
French have been our homes since Day 0. Always got solidarity for our brothers in democracy over there. They got way more spice and fight than we do.
Removed by mod
I dont see Americans burning down Blackrock buildings.
Removed by mod
If its gonna be a dick measuring contest wake me when Americans pull politicians onto the street and behead them.
I don’t see Americans unionising and making a noise about rising pension ages
Removed by mod
Let’s be real here: the French have no chill when it comes to the pension, but its nice to see some change in the US.
What if Americans decided to be a little more like the French and instead of just surrendering to the fucking literally swastika waving Nazis we just did the fucking bare minimum and VOTE
But instead we’ll get four more years of orange geriatric Hitler because young people won’t vote. It would be funny, if it wasn’t happening here.
Removed by mod
His point about the nazis not disappearing after the election is a tremendous problem that’s not going to go away. We need to figure out the root causes of it and address it properly. Hint: it’s establishment corruption taking too much too quickly.
