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Friday, July 14, 2006

Bastille Day



If France were to restore its monarchy, Don Luís Alfonso Gonzalo Victor Manuel Marco de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú, Duke of Tourraine, Duke of Bourbon, could be her king.

The French revolution occurred because of severe financial debts from that kingdom's financing of the American Revolution, in particular, for the construction of a vast navy to defeat the British on the seas.

The King called the Estates General, or Parliament, to discuss the matter and to decide how and whom to tax to pay off the debtors. The Third Estate, or commoners, wrested control of the parliament via manipulation of the violent mob in Paris.

From then on, the Revolution was ruled by violence. A group portrait of the revolutionaries could never be completed, since so many of them were executed. The revolution was founded upon the ideals of 'liberty', especially freedom from the Catholic Church, but instead led to a violent government that attempted to change and control everything in society in a manner far exceeding even the most absolutist king.

The leaders had hoped to create a society based on science, as redefined in the narrow Cartesian sense, but ended up dehumanzing its new citizens, who became mere test subjects for social science experiments.

The revolution spread via French armies throughout Europe and even into the Middle-East. Chaos spread far beyond Paris, and Paris itself became blood-drenched during the Reign of Terror. To solve this problem, General Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, centralizing the French monarchy far beyond anything that had ever existed before.

France today is certainly prosperous, but is definitely not happy. Frenchmen themselves may have great self-esteem in the modern sense, but they suffer from high rates of depression and the youths are disaffected and alienated, with easy and meaningless lives. Foreigners do all of the manual labor in the country, and they now pose a real security risk. The Government does not serve as the country's leadership, but instead is viewed as a source of handouts.

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