by David A. Bell

"I'm inclined to think that we are all born pedophiles." If an American politician made this statement, his or her political career would probably be in smoking ruins within roughly three minutes. The French, however, are somewhat more tolerant of such musings. Nicolas Sarkozy, the neo-Gaullist candidate for upcoming presidential election, not only offered this particular musing in an interview with Philosophie Magazine last month, but elaborated on it by offering a robust defense of genetic determinism. Even such phenomena as teen suicide are principally determined by genes, he argued. So far, his candidacy does not seem to have suffered unduly, and he remains ahead in the polls. In other French presidential news, Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal appears to be doing well with her new slogan "La France presidente." It's a nice play on words, implying that all of France will be president in a Royal administration, while reminding voters of the relatively unfamiliar female form of the noun "president(e)," which would become her own title if elected. More seriously, it skillfully blends the Socialist Party's traditional message about leaving no one behind with Royal's own recent appeals to French patriotism, including her suggestion that all French families fly the tricolor flag on Bastille Day. This, incidentally, may seem like an anodyne idea to Americans, but for the French, the notion of private citizens flying the flag is a strange one. One French friend of mine, on seeing several Maryland homes proudly displaying large American flags, once asked to me, in all innocence: "Are they all post offices?" Finally, it's worth mentioning that François Bayrou, the centrist whose campaign took off explosively last month but has since seemed to hit a wall, has set out what is in some ways the most radical proposal by any of the major candidates: the elimination of the National School of Administration (ENA, to use its French initials). The school trains nearly all France's top civil servants, and a very high percentage of its elite politicians (including Royal, Jacques Chirac, and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin) and business leaders. These "énarques" are renowned for an intelligence and skill matched only by their arrogance and ambition. The school's elimination would probably do more to liberalize and decentralize French government and French society than any other single reform. But don't hold your breath.