According to some, we would not have understood anything. A little sad music has settled in our country – and unfortunately, too often among the elite – that France is an eternal “bad student”. Bad pupil of Europe, of the OECD, of the Franco-German couple… It’s simple: we would have almost everything to learn from others. And besides, for proof: the others – who are so much better than us – say it! Thus, some (especially on the left) allow themselves to be complexed by the American intelligentsia, the New York Timesthe washington postwhich chronically explain to us to what extent our secularism is the false nose of state racism.
Others (especially on the right) let themselves be seduced by a demagogic discourse on our social model, which would be the source of all our ills and our lack of competitiveness. As for nuclear power, of course, today we are witnessing a U-turn on the rim of the elite, and in particular of our leaders; but how many years were wasted allowing ourselves to be intimidated by world opinion (particularly German) which, without rationality or ecological common sense, pointed to our flagship energy as too dangerous and irresponsible.
What if our French model was the solution, rather than the problem? Oh. Rest assured. We are not pouring, at L’Express, into a denial of “delighted with the crèche”. Nor do we convert to the benefits of magical thinking. The state of France is worrying, and each crisis that we go through acts as the photographic revealer of a downgrading. The Covid has cast a harsh light on our public hospital, which we took to be the best in the world. The energy crisis shows us that it will take years to repair the damage caused by bad political and industrial choices. As for our social model, it is on the verge of running out of steam. For years, France has cushioned its deindustrialization and the weakening of its economy by a continuous increase in transfers to households and businesses. These transfers have, of course, enabled the company to “hold on”. But at the same time they have prevented us from investing as we should have in fundamental public services – school, justice, health… We are now coming to the end of a road: too weak, our economy has no longer the kidneys to finance the system that cushioned the damage of its weakening. Only the reconstruction of a solid industry can cure us of this anemia.
“To believe that ‘it’s already over’ is to condemn us to always slip”
In short, there is something to roll up your sleeves. France will not get out of the rut without real diagnostic work, which does not only consist in saying what is wrong: we must also organize the examination of the objectives, methods and concrete possibilities available to us. to solve the problems and challenges we face. The construction site is huge. Intimidating. But to believe that “it’s already over” – as many think, despite their voluntarist declarations on the face of it – is to condemn us to always slipping. We inherited a model, however, which still assures us today of an “acquired speed”. We have some nice leftovers, all in all. But we need to reinvest them. The French approach, that is to say a certain apprehension of the problems through rationality, must be assumed, revived. Lack of confidence saps the will. And without will, nothing is possible.
To finish. Since he was more than anyone the embodiment of courage in politics, it is always good to take a look at the great Charles, who contrary to what we sometimes think, was not an accomplished optimist. In his Charles de Gaulle. A rebel inhabited by history (Gallimard), Michel Winock, insists on the fact that the General had a pessimistic vision of the world. “A ‘What’s the use?'” always haunts him, writes the historian. But he is inhabited by the demon of action, cultivating a secret watchword: “Act as if”. Ahead !