How right-wing is today’s Republican Party when compared to other right-wing parties around the world? In an effort to explain the matter to French voters who are also in the midst of a presidential campaign pitting “right” and against “left,” Le Figaro columnist Pierre-Yves Dugua admonishes his readers not to even put the French and American right in the same category – and to stop treating Americans ‘like fools’ just because they do not follow the ‘French model.’
For Le Figaro, in a fascinating column on comparative politics, Pierre-Yves Dugua starts out this way:
The gap between the American right and French right has never been wider. Even in normal times, the French have difficulty understanding the Republicans. Defending the right to acquire and own (this is not the same as to carry …) weapons, refusing to accept the principle of universal state-funded health care, opposing the principle of a national identity card … are all issues that leave voters of Nicolas Sarkozy dumbfounded – And even those of Le Pen.
[Editor’s Note: President Nicolas Sarkozy is leader of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement. Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who has picked up her father’s mantle, lead the Front National [In English we would say the ‘National Front’], which is regarded as the most extreme right-wing party in France].
The turn taken over recent days by presidential campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic expands the “canyon” between the beliefs and values of American Republicans and those of the French right.
I just now heard a French minister defend the right to access free, anonymous and confidential contraception for minors. Such a position would be unimaginable for a U.S. Republican and even for many Democrats.
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