Bruno Le Maire the self-proclaimed “liberal” who loves the state

Bruno Le Maire is a liberal who loves the state. It's not a joke: it is he himself who says it.

Because yes, it's a joke to call yourself a liberal and at the same time love the state. Just like it's a joke to call yourself a communist and like the stock market, or to call yourself a vegan and like steak tartare.

It is all the more a joke, as the reason given by the Minister of the Economy is that the State would be responsible for the long term. The example given by Bruno Le Maire to illustrate his remarks is even more lunar: he cites China as a reference for a state that is gaining in credibility because it occupies a central place there.

In China, there is no state. China is a proletarian dictatorship governed by a single party: the Chinese Communist Party.

Totalitarian drift

In Leninist jargon, this ideological position has a name: democratic centralism, the alignment of all once the decision has been discussed and voted on by a majority, the delegation of the organization of the conduct of operations to professionals.

What Bruno Le Maire presents to us under the cover of liberalism is nothing other than the heart of totalitarian thought as implemented by all communist and nationalist regimes: the disappearance of individual wills in favor of the will of the ruling party.

As soon as the state takes care of the long term, it takes to power over society and over individuals. It crushes them by imposing by force (of which it has the legal monopoly) a political and economic agenda.

As soon as the state deals with the long term, it becomes totally illegitimate and dictatorial. States were invented to be instruments of conquest, they can only offer two long-term choices: imperialism or autarky.

Constitutional drift 

To avoid these totalitarian excesses, to prevent the State from becoming an oppressor, its legitimacy must imperatively come from a clear and revocable mandate given to the organization in charge (in this case in France,) by united individuals.

This is how the French State itself defines its own legitimacy in a Constitution that it must both respect and enforce. Bruno Le Maire, as a servant of the State, who is moreover in charge of important functions, is summoned to follow this Constitution to the letter.

Article 3 of the DDHC of 1789, annexed in the preamble to the Constitution of 1958 :

“The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. Nobody, no individual can exercise authority that does not emanate expressly from it. »

Article 3 of the 1958 Constitution :

“National sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it through their representatives and through a referendum. »

Article 34 of the 1958 Constitution :

“Programming laws determine the objectives of State action. 

There can therefore be no discussion on the subject: in the French Republic as it is codified in its own Constitution, the credibility of the country does not rest on the State: it is exactly the opposite.

The State's mission is to defend the credibility of the country and this mission is in no way a mission that the State would decide according to its goodwill, it is subordinated to objectives decided by the community of national citizens who alone decide the direction towards which the country must turn when it comes to the collective destiny.

It is neither the Head of State, whose role is to enforce the Constitution nor the government, whose role is to achieve the objectives set by the country, to be responsible for the long term. They have an obligation of results, not an obligation of means, and even less the responsibility to define the long-term future of the country. This mission falls to citizens and political parties, insofar as they comply with the Constitution and do not take advantage of it to enlist citizens in delirium or deadly agendas.

Article 2 of the DDHC of 1789, annexed in the preamble to the Constitution of 1958  :

“The goal of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, safety, and resistance to oppression. 

Populist drift

But if it was only that! Using liberalism as a state guarantee is absolutely unacceptable.

The foundation of liberalism is that no organization has the right to limit the freedoms of individuals without their consent. The State is therefore at best a necessary evil, at worst an enemy that must be fought vigorously when it contravenes this principle of respect for the rights of individuals.

What a base maneuver to imitate the populists who use the word liberalism at all costs as a straw man, as a ploy to camouflage their inconsistencies, as an amalgam to give free rein to their anti-Americanism, their anti-Europeanism, their xenophobia, their anti-capitalism, their narcissism, and their arrogance.

Bruno Le Maire had better feel the atmosphere of the street rather than playing demagogues. More and more people feel their freedoms clearly threatened. This is the reason why they turn to other horizons, even if it means advocating evil in order to fight evil.

It's not out of philosophy. We are not talking here about philosophical freedoms, but about very concrete freedoms: property, health, security…

Dangerous drift

The recent elections have however been clear, the citizens in the street 4 years ago have been just as clear. One of the most concrete and fundamental freedoms is at the heart of all discussions, it is seen every day at the gas pump, at the end of each month when it is time to go shopping.

In technocratic jargon, this has been called purchasing power. Bruno Le Maire, in his position, should be the first to be interested in the subject. The most fundamental freedom, the freedom to work, trade and spend freely, the freedom to access goods and services is more than seriously abused in this country.

The freedom to feed one's loved ones, to educate them, care for them… the freedom to earn a living and improve one's living conditions.

This economic freedom, the ministry he heads has never ceased to regulate it, to condemn it, make it feel guilty, to ridicule it, to constrain it, to tax it, and to subsidize it, taking pleasure in the most eccentric and the most deadly by pure electoral calculation.

We know very well what happens when this freedom disappears. Just look at what is happening in Sri Lanka , Venezuela , North Korea, Cuba …

France urgently needs liberalism!

Bruno Le Maire is not a liberal, neither by his actions, nor by his speeches, nor by his references. This adjective is only a posture that was used during the 2017 elections to seduce the centrist and progressive electorate.

When you are liberal, you do not worship the state: you make sure, by mobilizing all the means at your disposal, that this machine which at the slightest opportunity becomes mad and obese, returns to its place.