What the "Yellow Vests" want for France - good for us too?

Walt is waiting for reports from the City of Light [Light Brown? Ed.] as to what Emmanuel Macron, the Emperor [I warned you last time! Ed.] sorry, President of France, had to say to the nation in response to the fourth straight weekend of protests by the gilets jaunes (= Yellow Vests). See "'Yellow vest' protests spread to Belgium, Netherlands... even Canada!", WWW 8/12/18.

Without foreknowledge of the contents of his TV address, I am prepared to bet that he did not offer to resign. (Lifetime pct .990.) He would be no more inclined to do so than would have Louis XVI. We can only hope that he will meet the same fate. Off with his head! (I'm speaking figuratively, of course.) As for the grievance which sparked the demonstrations cum riots -- a threatened hike in taxes on gasoline and other fuel -- the Chief Surrender-Monkey has already caved on that one. The tax increase has now been "suspended until further notice".

Walt is also prepared to bet that whatever M Macron said he would do (or not do) in response to the protests will not be enough to satisfy the yellow vests. I know this because some person(s) purporting to speak for the yellow vests today issued a manifesto listing no fewer than 25 principles or reforms which they demand the government act on immediately for the good of the country. Here they are.

Yes, yes... I know that's not easy to read. I suggest saving it, then using the magnifier (the icon of the little magnifying glass) in your viewer to blow up [careful. Ed.] the image and focus on whatever parts of the manifesto you want to study. I also know that most of our readers don't speak French, so here's a summary of the points which are of most interest to me.

Part I - Economy/Work - A lot of unrealistic, quasi-socialist stuff here

1. Taxes to be capped constitutionally at no more than 25%
4. Massive construction projects to house 5 million homeless
5. Break up the "too-big-to-fail" banks and separate regular banking from investment banking. Wait till (((Goldman Sachs))) reads that one!

Part II - Politics - This is where the best stuff is -- much food for thought in the AABC countries as well as France

7. Rewrite the constitution to protect the interests of the people, including binding referenda to give the people control of government
8. Prohibit lobby groups and (((vested interests))) from political decision-making. That would include things like PACs
11. Immediate cessation of privatization, and the renationalization of public assets. Statists, these people, not much in favour of private enterprise. Bring back Air France?
13. Take ideology out of education and end "destructive education techniques". Walt's friends at PAFE will like this one.
14. Quadruple the budget for law and order. Put time-limits on judicial procedures. Make the justice system accessible to all.
15. Break up media monopolies and end their interference in politics. Make media accessible to citizens and guarantee a plurality of opinions. End editorial propaganda. Gotta love-love-love this one, as well as the next one...
16. Guarantee citizens' liberty by prohibiting completely any interference by the state in private citizens' decisions concerning education, health and family matters.

Part III - Health/Environment - This is for the eco-weenies, except, oddly for...

21. Reindustrialize France, thereby reducing imports and thus pollution. More thought needed here.

Part IV - Foreign Affairs - The one-worlders have it wrong. And President Trump won't like this either.

22. Get out of NATO, and end France's participation in foreign wars of aggression. As Walt has been saying for years, we have no dog in Middle East fight.
23. Cease pillaging and interfering, politically and militarily, in "Francafrique". Immediately repatriate all French soldiers. "Francafrique" includes places like Mali where not just the French but Canadians and other NATO troops are busy keeping the non-existent peace; see point 22.
24. "Hinder" the influx of migrants who cannot be accommodated or integrated. The majority of Americans, Australians, Brits and Canadians would surely agree with the majority of Frenchmen on that one!

The Yellow Vest Manifesto -- especially Parts II and IV -- seems to me like a good basis for a libertarian-populist election platform. There isn't one country in Europe or North America where the ideas expressed wouldn't find substantial support. I have just received from Agent 3 the platform of the newly-formed People's Party of Canada, and will be going through it line by line to see how it aligns with the Manifesto. Good luck to the PPC, and to the Yellow Vests! I'm with you!