Fête Nationale - 2012

This year my girlfriend and I went to the French Embassy for the 14th of July celebrations. I love going to embassy events, because I invariably run into friends or make new ones!

Before continuing on to the celebratory aspects... allow me to wish a prayer for our future king, Louis XX. While the old regime was ended by anarchy, mayhem, crimes against humanity, and utter disrespect for the history of France, there is always hope for the future.

My girlfriend, Christine LaGarde, and myself.

Amongst the people we met, we ran into Christine LaGarde of the International Monetary Fund (IMF, FMI in French). Ms. LaGarde is a former government minister in multiple French administrations and has had an illustrious career.

The weather was a bit warm, but overall rather comfortable. The only complaint is that I can never stay long enough at events like this... I really enjoy meeting people and being with friends and acquaintances again and catching up! 

Amusingly, we discovered children swimming in the fountain, clearly enjoying the weather and completely oblivious to their surroundings. The atmosphere at these celebrations is always fun and enjoyable!

I also met a friend of a friend who has read this blog, which is always something I enjoy discovering! Every time I meet someone who has heard of my little blog, I become excited to know that yet another person actually reads what I post. It's kind of like being famous, without the hassles. :D

Since this event was shortly after the elections we had this year, let me also give a special congratulations to my favorite candidate, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who managed to get 1.8% of the vote in his first Presidential run. This establishes him as an up and coming voice in national French politics. I look forward to seeing the numbers for Debout La Republique increase in future elections.

For those who are wondering, how can one be monarchist and republican at the same time: I do not support the original monarchical form that France had. This is to say I am completely against absolutism. I prefer a structured system that is a hybrid that preserve both long-term state interests as well as the rights of citizens.  (Constitutional Monarchy that benefits all classes of society, not allowing for an uncontrolled abuse of power by either the rich and titled nor descending into mob rule.)

What I like about Nicolas Dupont-Aignan is that his policies are very well thought out and logical. Even where I disagree on the form of government, his arguments in favor of republicanism do hold water and address actual problems that the monarchy had and which certain political factions currently exhibit today.

Rather than coming from an extremist position or a mainstream one (whose opinions are usually bought by donors), he has built up a cadre of intelligent people who have looked at the issues and proposed sensible solutions. What's more, is that on the two questions that are most important for Europe right now: the Euro/Eurozone and the structure of the European Union, he is on the right side of the issues. Unlike some candidates, he neither parrots the opinions of the major banks and multinational corporations nor does he allow blind nostalgia to influence his position. Instead, he has realized what is happening is nothing less than an assault to France's liberties as a nation and its economic buying power, trade imbalance, etc. and has realized that the current status-quo is madness.

Credit: arms of Royal France from Wikipedia.