At the height of the Silicon Valley transformation of the American economy The Economist published an article about the visit of two French economic officials to see what they could learn and take back to France. Their hopes were high: "How do we create a Silicon Valley in France?," they asked their hosts. "Well, you have to ease your bankruptcy laws which discourage risk-taking entrepreneurs. You have to cut back on your social safety net, you have to make it easier for companies to fire workers, you have to get workers to work harder and longer into life, you have to privatize more and you have to cut back on the union influence." All sage advice, to which the French replied "We can't do that."
America's first and longest-lasting friend is France. Voltaire wrote that the "golden age of which men speak so much and never before has existed" was created in the colony of Pennsylvania. The French ardently supported America's War of Independence and Lafayette remains an American hero. Tocqueville spent nine months travelling the new republic and produced the most astute commentary ever written on the country. The Statue of Liberty was a gift of the French people to America.
More than any other European country France has been protective of its national identity. With Italy and Germany it was once one of the giants of opera in Europe but then resisted the influence of those others in favor of its homegrown version which has long since been eclipsed but exists still in all its idiosyncrasy. Likewise the French have resisted the Americanization of its culture in television, movies, fast food and theme parks.
In world affairs too France has been keen on preserving its independence and this is what has most rankled. De Gaulle, visiting Quebec, impertinently concluded a speech with "Viva a free Quebec!" France was the only NATO member to refuse to be bound by the military decisions of the alliance as a whole. More recently France incensed Americans by opposing the war in Iraq and refusing to participate. It may have broken the European Union, of which it was a founding member, by refusing to ratify the E.U.'s constitution.
France never recovered from World War I. Exhausted and depressed it lost its ambition and will and with them its prominent place in the world. France has never wanted to fight for anything since, not even Paris when Hitler marched in. French, once the language of international diplomacy, has been supplanted there and everywhere by English. The French economy has muddled along burdened by the characteristics mentioned by the Silicon Valley executive and long eclipsed by the American, German, and Japanese. Last year's production problems at Air Bus have become a symbol of French inability to win in the economic big leagues.
The result of all of this however has been the preservation of most things French and for that the world should be thankful. France remains first in attracting world tourism a sure indication that if most people don't want to live there it's still the greatest country to visit. Its slower-paced work life makes for a more relaxed daily pace that is immediately apparent and welcome to visitors from go-go America. We are awed by the art, charmed by the preservation of the architecture, made voracious by its cuisine, calmed by the beauty of the countryside, and seduced by the sound of the language.
France is not in any immediate danger of becoming as irrelevant as once-great powers like Egypt, Greece, and Rome are. There you go only to see the fossils of what once was great. In France you see great history too but in a living, functioning society, not a great nation as it once was but still a major, relevant and vital one, one that has always been distinctive and which, it is hoped, always will remain distinctive. The world doesn't need France to make computer chips. It just needs it to remain France. This is Public Occurrences.
America's first and longest-lasting friend is France. Voltaire wrote that the "golden age of which men speak so much and never before has existed" was created in the colony of Pennsylvania. The French ardently supported America's War of Independence and Lafayette remains an American hero. Tocqueville spent nine months travelling the new republic and produced the most astute commentary ever written on the country. The Statue of Liberty was a gift of the French people to America.
More than any other European country France has been protective of its national identity. With Italy and Germany it was once one of the giants of opera in Europe but then resisted the influence of those others in favor of its homegrown version which has long since been eclipsed but exists still in all its idiosyncrasy. Likewise the French have resisted the Americanization of its culture in television, movies, fast food and theme parks.
In world affairs too France has been keen on preserving its independence and this is what has most rankled. De Gaulle, visiting Quebec, impertinently concluded a speech with "Viva a free Quebec!" France was the only NATO member to refuse to be bound by the military decisions of the alliance as a whole. More recently France incensed Americans by opposing the war in Iraq and refusing to participate. It may have broken the European Union, of which it was a founding member, by refusing to ratify the E.U.'s constitution.
France never recovered from World War I. Exhausted and depressed it lost its ambition and will and with them its prominent place in the world. France has never wanted to fight for anything since, not even Paris when Hitler marched in. French, once the language of international diplomacy, has been supplanted there and everywhere by English. The French economy has muddled along burdened by the characteristics mentioned by the Silicon Valley executive and long eclipsed by the American, German, and Japanese. Last year's production problems at Air Bus have become a symbol of French inability to win in the economic big leagues.
The result of all of this however has been the preservation of most things French and for that the world should be thankful. France remains first in attracting world tourism a sure indication that if most people don't want to live there it's still the greatest country to visit. Its slower-paced work life makes for a more relaxed daily pace that is immediately apparent and welcome to visitors from go-go America. We are awed by the art, charmed by the preservation of the architecture, made voracious by its cuisine, calmed by the beauty of the countryside, and seduced by the sound of the language.
France is not in any immediate danger of becoming as irrelevant as once-great powers like Egypt, Greece, and Rome are. There you go only to see the fossils of what once was great. In France you see great history too but in a living, functioning society, not a great nation as it once was but still a major, relevant and vital one, one that has always been distinctive and which, it is hoped, always will remain distinctive. The world doesn't need France to make computer chips. It just needs it to remain France. This is Public Occurrences.
