I don't suppose that I can say anything about the French that the readers of this blog would not already think themselves, or expect me to say.

Still, with the continuing reports of economic protests in France, I feel like I need to say something, even if it's obvious.

The French are the source of their own misery. Their tragedy is that they do not understand that strikes and protests and burning cars and blocking supermarkets, calling for the government to intervene, to "help people", and to apply yet more taxes on the rich, is precisely opposite to the steps that need to be taken to resolve the economic crisis, which France is only a part of.

What the French are doing is, they are destroying their own state. They are harming their own livelihoods and the livelihoods of their descendants.

I'm not sure what can be done about it, because the hooligan ethos in France is so strong. From what we've seen in recent years, France is, essentially, a nation of hooligans. Their hooliganism stems from the French Revolution, a demonstration of mass rabble if there ever was one. They chant the self-conflicting, semi-fascist slogan of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" - yet the three ideals of liberty, equality and brotherhood are not compatible. Liberty gets beaten to death by the other two. So France is now a state with little economic liberty to speak of, where "equality" is taken to mean that if you have something, then I should too, and "brotherhood" is taken to mean that since everyone is family, we're just going to take it away from you.

What the French should be rallying for are the combined values of liberty and rule of law.

Given how France is unlikely to improve, I would hope that it might at least serve as a cautionary tale for other nations, on what not to let ourselves turn into.

Sadly, I fear that their hooliganism might be doing more to inspire than to warn.