Dissing the ÉNArques

A tall fair Alsatian at dinner last night, whose first language was Alsatian-German, said, "You know what ÉNA stands for, don't you?"

"École Nationale d'Administration," I said proudly.

"Non, École Nationale d'Autistes." (ÉNA is based in Alsace now.)

Antoine one-upped him. "How can we solve the problems of France? Export! France must export three things:

   --Polytechnique

   --ÉNA

   --the 35 hours [workweek in France].

Not only will this be a major improvement for France, but it will destroy our rivals!"

(Ségolène Royal went to ÉNA, along with Jacques Chirac, Laurent Fabius, Lionel Jospin, Dominique de Villepin, and a huge number of other French politicos, although not Nicolas Sarkozy.)

[Caption of cartoon: "My son will be a student at the École Centrale Paris, at ÉNA, and at Polytechnique!" "My son will be the son of a worker!"]

*drawing by Plantu, from Wolfgang, tu feras informatique!  p. 6

Comments

[ZF]

These are for sure similar to the jokes people used to tell about the aristocrats when they were the hereditary master caste.

So many French have made snide remarks for centuries now about American government without ever understanding the first and most important insight on which it is based: that the key function of a constitution is to prevent power becoming concentrated into too few hands, precisely because once it happens it's so difficult to reverse.

From Rue Rude:

And yet things don't work perfectly: last time I checked, the U.S. Congress, the President and Vice President, and the Supreme Court were all from one party for the first time I know of in U.S. history.

[Frog in L.A.]

There's also the saying that the only French product that doesn't export well is the énarque.

They're brilliant minds and conversationalists ("blablateurs"), but with no "savoir-faire" (know-how), and even less "savoir-être" (emotional intelligence). Try to adapt such psycho-rigid mindset to the American business culture for example, it'll hurt.

[ZF]

"last time I checked, the U.S. Congress, the President and Vice President, and the Supreme Court were all from one party for the first time I know of in U.S. history"

Exactly so, by the decision of the American people. In many other countries such a decision would have been the last one they were allowed to make, while in the US the constitution continues to function smoothly.

The founders of the United States did a good job crafting a Constitution of effective 'checks and balances', but some other factors now make the task easier for a country which stretches across a whole continent. As a result of its size and its having many major cities the US is not subject to capture by the elite of a single city, as every EU country is.

In my view the EU's 'democratic deficit' is principally the result of the political elites in each country manoeuvring together to evade the dissipation of their local power which likely would result from the creation of a real European state. They want every aspect of a larger state (mostly more power) except that one!

[Frog in L.A.]

ZF, your comments are very interesting, and intriguing.

I'd like to get your views on why you think having a single party governing all branches of government is a better proposition. To me, that's the definition of "democratic deficit", of "check unbalance". It's the open door to extremism and abuse. Also, the thing that bugs me in the States is the party financing, which automatically makes those who govern representatives of the corporations, not the citizens who elected them.

Maybe it's my European genes (and bloody history) talking, but I prefer representation of all opinions, even if it makes it more difficult to reach decisions for lack of consensus.

As for your comment on the EU, I agree with you: we're dealing with sovereign nations who find very hard to relinquish their identity and influence to a higher European power. But it's not just the elites, it's also the people: look at the rise in local movements (be they cultural, political, religious), and the rise of nationalist forces. I sincerely hope that the EU can find its way, because it's its only hope in tomorrow's world.