France’s right is left
November 20, 2008 5:36 pm GeneralWarning: political opinion
On a day of yet another national strike in France, with 60% of teachers on strike (according to the unions) in protest against a recent law on minimum service in schools and other education related issues, I have been thinking about how politics in France is so different to what I knew in Ireland, and what I’ve read about during the recent US presidential campaign.
In France, as in many countries, there is a long-standing tradition of talking about politics in terms of the left and the right. And unlike in the US, it’s considered OK to be a socialist – or even a communist – and we have parties that score between 2 and 5 percent in national elections with names like “The Worker’s Struggle” or “The League of Revolutionary Communists”.
While I think of my political leaning not as one-dimensional, but as multi-dimensional. Your political identity is defined by your relative position on a whole range of subjects. Questions that are interesting to me: what is the place of the state in education, social security, job creation? What should we consider a public service, and what is in the realm of private enterprise? What are the responsibilities of the individual to the state, how much freedom does the individual have, and how much right does the state have to define and limit that freedom? What should the spending priorities of the state be?
When you phrase things in this way, it’s clear to me that the “right wing” of French politics is actually quite left-wing:
- France has a very high rate of social insurance – over 45% taken off every paycheck to pay for pensions, unemployment benefit, healthcare, which is supported by both the right and left wings.
- On top of this, France has a progressive income tax system, which pays for things like the education system, public transport, the army, the environment – all the usual government expenditures
- Universal healthcare of a uniform standard is a fundamental principle in France, which is supported by both the right and the left. You don’t get better healthcare if you pay more here
- Free education, right up to third level education, is considered a fundamental right in France, and the public primary & secondary school system is of a very high quality
On all these issues, both the right and the left in France are in agreement – the role of government is to provide a minimum level of infrastructure, education, healthcare and social security to all of its citizens, in particular those who are living in precarious conditions.
And so I have come to the conclusion that the French right wing majority party (the UMP) is really a fiscally center-left wing party with a slight authoritarian leaning.
I had written a lot more on the areas where the government is trying to cut costs – suffice it to say that I think most of them are reasonable and necessary, and I think that most of the unions in France are, on the contrary, being unreasonable in expecting things to stay the same. It’s funny, but it is the left wing in France today which is more conservative (“leave things the way they are”) and the UMP which is being more progressive.
To be honest, I with that the center-left party (PS) would tackle some of those social questions I asked earlier head on, clearly elaborate their values, and identify their priorities based on those values. I think that their message would be well received.
November 20th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
that’s why Europe rocks (for the most part) on social issues (and human rights) and the US sucks.
For them socialism = communism. Reading some of the comments during the US election i would say that the “republicans” see anybody getting social welfare as a crack junkie and if you are a woman the you are a crack mom.
“Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society” — Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
November 20th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
just to clarify the quote. americans want better healthcare and social welfare for all in general but don’t want to pay for it.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Well, welcome to the Continent. I doubt there are more than a couple of European countries beside the UK and Ireland, if any, that are not like France in this aspect.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Indeed we talk about *right* and *left* in France like in other countries. But maybe more as those terms come from the French Revolution.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Your proof is strange because you list positive things (about social insurance, education, healthcare , etc.) and then you conclude that the Right wing is left! Those two things are unrelated and the first has been obtained with time and different governments.
You should write more about what’s happening to healthcare today or about taxes decreasing only for rich people.
Furthermore you are wrong about teachers because they are not on strike to protest against a minimum service (this has been done a few months ago) but against cuts in teacher staffs and against changes in timetables.
If you think that the current French government is left then I would like to know what you think about the Italian one…
November 21st, 2008 at 6:55 am
We have our share of people that believe that unemployed people are in this state because they want it, it’s their fault blah blah.
However, when you tell them to face their responsibilities, and assume that they think the better solution would be to violently eliminate those people living on welfare, it seems they, erh… start to think and say “you can’t do that”…
November 21st, 2008 at 7:44 am
@ElLolo: You say I list “only positive things” – to an American, having 45% of your paycheck taken by the state is not a positive. Also, in other countries, a minimum level of healthcare or education is considered a right, but most of these things work in some way related to means – the state pays for things when people can’t pay themselves, but the wealthy take care of themselves.
In Ireland, someone on welfare can still get access to a hospital bed, but it will be in a ward with maybe 20 other people. With health insurance, you’ll be in a room with 4 or 5 other people, and if you’re prepared to pay extra (around €50 per day) you get a private room. In France, on the public health service, Anne shared a room with one other person. And when a single room became free, she was on her own. No cost to us.
What changes in France is the level of responsibility which people (right & left) consider normal on the part of the state.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm
> “When you phrase things in this way, it’s clear to me that the “right wing” of French politics is actually quite left-wing:”
Well, that’s funny because most of the people I know (including me, I’m French) think that the left-wing of US-politics (and lot’s of other countries) is totally right-wing…
I guess it’s all relative 😉
November 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Well, the terms “left” vs “right” are really only meaningful when compared within a single country (or for countries which have very similar governments). Applying the american definitions of “left” and “right” (I assume that’s what you mean in this blog post) to most european governments is pretty useless since they would probably all be considerd left of the center.
Also, the entire left vs right is quite limited anyway. It’s more like a multi dimensional scale
November 21st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
@Isak: “left vs right is quite limited anyway. It’s more like a multi dimensional scale” – I say as much. However, I disagree with your statement that left & right are only relevant within a given state.
That’s true if you’re an absolute relativist, but if (like me) you fall somewhere between relativism and absolutism, then it’s not quite true. I think that there are forms of government that are quite clearly worse than others, and a big grey zone in the middle which may or may not be appropriate depending on financial conditions, local culture and a bunch of other parameters.
I agree with bochecha – both Aperican parties are right wing – in the US it’s really the difference between social progressives and social conservatives, fiscally, Clinton lowered the deficit, Bush Sr. raised taxes, Bush Jr. ran record deficits.
I also agree that most of Western Europe is relatively left-wing fiscally compared to the US, and the difference again is usually in parties’ positions on social issues.
But there are definitely core principles and core priorities that we can call left & right wing, and which change over time.
Whether people who are better off should pay more for better education and healthcare, but in consequence get taxed less, or pay more taxes and have the state provide the same service to all, is a core question which needs asking, and one side or the other cannot be taken blindly as a fundamental right (to give one example).