Two Very Different Views on Who Deserves a Good Life?

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Diana Bardyn

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Aug 20, 2012, 8:16:05 AM8/20/12

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Two Very Different Views on Who Deserves a Good Life?

On August 19, 2012

By Diana Robinson-Bardyn | Blog

Mon dieu! Marie-Antoinette’s head is spinning.

As a woman who enjoys dual French/American citizenship and has lived most of her adult life in European democracies, I am often asked about the differences between France and the United States. Depending on my mood, the moment, and the audience, my replies vary. There is of course French cuisine, the French way of celebrating mealtimes and so much more.

But today when I am asked, just months after the election of François Hollande as President of France, and just weeks away from the American presidential election, I like to focus on differences that go beyond taste and style.

France is a vibrant democracy with over a dozen active political parties where every political ideology is represented, a diversity that perhaps encourages participation at a level that Americans could never hope to attain. The voter turnout in France this year was 80%, something which is impossible to imagine in the U.S. The American election of 2008 had a record-breaking turnout of just 58%, and even that required an enormous get- out-the-vote campaign.
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