Riots! (And Not the Good Kind)
For about a week now, the suburbs of Paris have been ablaze as gangs of "alienated youths" roam the streets setting fire to hundreds cars and firing shots at police and firefighters (Guardian story here). Apparently, the riots were sparked by the deaths of two African teenagers who were electrocuted while hiding in a power station. The young men thought that they were being pursued by police (in fact they were not), and were attempting to hide.
Of course it is absurd to start riots over the accidental death of two teenagers, when the police had nothing to do with the matter. Is the perception of police involvement on the part of the victims sufficient to blame police for the accident? Apparently in the eyes of numerous poor, alienated Parisians the answer is yes. Compared to this farce, the riots in response to the beating of Rodney King were ideologically bulletproof. (In fact there was no excuse to take out anger at the police on private property in those L.A. riots either, but at least there was something that understandably caused outrage in that situation.)
A number of right-wing pundits have come out saying that these riots are a direct result of France's loose immigration policies, and have warned that the U.S. could face similar problems if they do not work to stop the massive illegal immigration occuring along our Mexican border. Now, of course there is a relation between the riots and France's large African immigrant population (most of the rioters are apparently African immigrants), however it is fallacious to claim that the problems were caused by the immigration policies.
The problem is not the immigrants, but French society itself, and the situation into which society thrusts these immigrants. The massive parasitic bureaucratic state in France is beyond all imagining, and the tax burden on French citizens is one of the highest in Europe. With an unemployment rate of almost 9 percent and myriad laws that stifle free markets, it is no surprise that poverty in France is seen as inescapable by these young people. The negative effects of such a huge parasitic state are evident in France's per capita GDP of $25,400 (compared to $40,100 in the U.S.) and its GDP growth rate of just over 2 percent (compared to the current 4.4 percent in America in the midst of a recession, and the over 7 percent in 2003). This system has crippled the people of France, with the natural population growth rate screeching to a halt and the economy sagging.
It stands to reason that when such a huge proportion of French society is dedicated not to creating wealth, but to seizing and redistributing it, improving the standard of living for the poor will become increasingly difficult as there is less and less to go around. The state does not produce wealth. It does not produce food or shelter or anything else that could be used to alleviate poverty, and the more society concentrates on reapportioning wealth, the more will be leeched from the processes that work to improve the lots of everyone, including the poor.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that France's socialist system works to improve the well-being of the poor. Of course in the short term, the poor receive more money, but in the long term the poor, the middle classes, and the wealthy are dragged down -- with the wealthy as always hurting the least no matter how much the law discriminates against them. No doubt the French peoples' intentions are good, but the systems they have initiated do nothing but bring all of healthy society to its knees. Human beings naturally expand and produce the goods necessary for them to be prosperous and content, but the more people rely on government the more they work to stifle these natural human processes.
In this environment, it is not surprising that many poor French immigrants feel alienated and hopeless. The government systems that dominate their culture serve only to increase the power and influence of wealthy politicians while miring the rest of honest, hard-working people in mediocrity and poverty. When paired with pathetic state-run public schools that churn out ignorance better than education, and the hopeless feeling of dependence created by the failed welfare state, these riots should not be surprising in the least.
Instead of making immigrants into scapegoats, people should recognize the natural effects when humans are not allowed to naturally produce and trade the necessities of life. The state produces nothing of value to society, and can only improve the lots of some by taking from others. There is no way that such a system can meet the needs of millions of people, and the result is poverty, anger, alienation, and violence. Of course there are other contributing factors to this outbreak of violence, but the French could greatly alleviate this and many other ills of their society by simply letting people act and trade freely.
(All the above statistics taken from the CIA World Factbook and Phrasebase.com.)
Of course it is absurd to start riots over the accidental death of two teenagers, when the police had nothing to do with the matter. Is the perception of police involvement on the part of the victims sufficient to blame police for the accident? Apparently in the eyes of numerous poor, alienated Parisians the answer is yes. Compared to this farce, the riots in response to the beating of Rodney King were ideologically bulletproof. (In fact there was no excuse to take out anger at the police on private property in those L.A. riots either, but at least there was something that understandably caused outrage in that situation.)
A number of right-wing pundits have come out saying that these riots are a direct result of France's loose immigration policies, and have warned that the U.S. could face similar problems if they do not work to stop the massive illegal immigration occuring along our Mexican border. Now, of course there is a relation between the riots and France's large African immigrant population (most of the rioters are apparently African immigrants), however it is fallacious to claim that the problems were caused by the immigration policies.
The problem is not the immigrants, but French society itself, and the situation into which society thrusts these immigrants. The massive parasitic bureaucratic state in France is beyond all imagining, and the tax burden on French citizens is one of the highest in Europe. With an unemployment rate of almost 9 percent and myriad laws that stifle free markets, it is no surprise that poverty in France is seen as inescapable by these young people. The negative effects of such a huge parasitic state are evident in France's per capita GDP of $25,400 (compared to $40,100 in the U.S.) and its GDP growth rate of just over 2 percent (compared to the current 4.4 percent in America in the midst of a recession, and the over 7 percent in 2003). This system has crippled the people of France, with the natural population growth rate screeching to a halt and the economy sagging.
It stands to reason that when such a huge proportion of French society is dedicated not to creating wealth, but to seizing and redistributing it, improving the standard of living for the poor will become increasingly difficult as there is less and less to go around. The state does not produce wealth. It does not produce food or shelter or anything else that could be used to alleviate poverty, and the more society concentrates on reapportioning wealth, the more will be leeched from the processes that work to improve the lots of everyone, including the poor.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that France's socialist system works to improve the well-being of the poor. Of course in the short term, the poor receive more money, but in the long term the poor, the middle classes, and the wealthy are dragged down -- with the wealthy as always hurting the least no matter how much the law discriminates against them. No doubt the French peoples' intentions are good, but the systems they have initiated do nothing but bring all of healthy society to its knees. Human beings naturally expand and produce the goods necessary for them to be prosperous and content, but the more people rely on government the more they work to stifle these natural human processes.
In this environment, it is not surprising that many poor French immigrants feel alienated and hopeless. The government systems that dominate their culture serve only to increase the power and influence of wealthy politicians while miring the rest of honest, hard-working people in mediocrity and poverty. When paired with pathetic state-run public schools that churn out ignorance better than education, and the hopeless feeling of dependence created by the failed welfare state, these riots should not be surprising in the least.
Instead of making immigrants into scapegoats, people should recognize the natural effects when humans are not allowed to naturally produce and trade the necessities of life. The state produces nothing of value to society, and can only improve the lots of some by taking from others. There is no way that such a system can meet the needs of millions of people, and the result is poverty, anger, alienation, and violence. Of course there are other contributing factors to this outbreak of violence, but the French could greatly alleviate this and many other ills of their society by simply letting people act and trade freely.
(All the above statistics taken from the CIA World Factbook and Phrasebase.com.)
posted by Dan at 1:38 PM
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