The French Take A Stand

Well, at least the French people did. Or some of them. OK, so it was just the smokers, and it was a rather selfish stand. But it was a stand! It's progress.

Turns out that the French government, architects of the heat-wave debacle, actually is concerned about the health of the average Frenchman on the street. They are out to reduce the health issues associated with smoking by raising the price of cigarettes to the point where only the gainfully employed French will be able to chose between a pack of cigarettes or a new Peugeot.

The French people, particularly those under the age of 25 (who still have several years to wait before getting something resembling a real job), have decided that enough is enough. Ninety percent of tobacco shops closed today. French folks were running around going through nicotine withdrawals and being more cranky than usual (and probably much more friendly to smoking American tourists than they usually are).

Will this be enough to reverse the socialist backslide of France? No. But, if there are enough of these mini-revolts, enough of these outrages, maybe, just maybe the people will start to figure out that Chirac and his cronies are not the great people they like to pretend to be.