L'UMP is the party in power. It represents what passes for conservative government in the socialist paradise of France. Not exactly the party of deep thinkers, its wheels turn and grind out an assortment of dopey ideas. For example:

12 COUNTRIES SIGN UP FOR FRENCH AIR TAX INITIATIVE

PARIS March 1, 2006 (AFP) - A French initiative to tax airline tickets to boost funds for developing nations won limited support at an international conference that wrapped up in Paris Wednesday, with a total of 12 countries saying they will adopt the measure.

French officials called the conference a success in getting other countries to adopt the idea championed by President Jacques Chirac -- despite the small number of states that have joined so far and the hesitation of other big Western countries with high numbers of airline passengers.

France, not counting herself, signed up 11 of the remaining 94 attending nations for an 11% "success". And among the 11, these giants of commercial air travel: Chile, Cyprus, Congo, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua and Norway. Super success. This is sure to give UNEP's upcoming International Year of the Potato (2008, vid., Annex, last item, ¶116) a run for the money.

Oh, and this dopey idea that failed constitutional review:

FRENCH COLONIAL LAW OFFICIALLY STRUCK DOWN

PARIS January 31, 2006 (AFP) - France's constitutional council on Tuesday struck out the key clause of a law that recognised the "positive role" of colonialism, ending a highly embarrassing episode for the government of President Jacques Chirac.

Feeble ideas. Empty ideas (and this). Half-baked ideas (and this). And flat-out failed ideas (and this).

Now compare the above with the main competition, le Parti Socialiste, the party of the self-styled workers' philosophes -- but no ideas.

LEFT WANTING
The Failure Of France's Socialists To Capitalise On The Government's Woes
Is Evidence Of A Movement Fractured And Short On Ideas

PARIS April 20, 2006 (Guardian) - What better time [scil., the aftermath of the CPE defeat] for the opposition, in this case the Parti Socialiste (PS), to deliver a final, fatal blow to an administration in crisis. But...the PS failed to throw any kind of coup de grace. All party leader François Holland would say was the demonstrators' concerns were "at the heart of our project". He did not say what that project might be.

Other socialist luminaries have temporised repeating variations on the phrase: "We're listening to the French people", an idea Pascal Virot, Libération's senior political correspondent says is neither original nor helpful.

"Where is the left? It's a good question. I don't think they have very many concrete proposals," he told Guardian Unlimited. "Earlier this month the PS spokesman said the party was 'not in a phase of proposals' and that it wasn't in a position to put forward propositions. It's astonishing and for the French, pretty desperate. We have a right that is beaten and a left that cannot do anything about it.

"Normally parties say we can diagnose the problem and here's our solution. Here all they are saying is that they will listen to people."

Mr Virot believes the PS is still paralysed by the division caused by the vote on the European constitution vote in May... [and] also crippled by internal rivalries between at least half a dozen potential candidates for the presidential election next year, including Mr Holland, his partner Ségolène Royal and Mr Fabius.

"The PS is in a very complicated position," said Mr Virot. "If candidates do have any ideas they're not presenting them for fear of ruining their chances."

Jacques Cap de Vielle, professor at the Institut d'&Etudes Politiques, the elite college better known as Sciences-Po and research director at the Centre for the Study of French Political Life, said the problem ran deeper.

"Rivalry between individuals has led to immobility in the Parti Socialiste but sadly the reasons for its retreat are more profound.

"The French left has not taken the baton, it is true, and it seems impotent faced with the globalisation of the economy because it has convinced itself, as others have, that there is 'no alternative' - an idea coined by your Mrs Thatcher. It's not that it has no power. It's that it feels it has no power and has felt this for some time. The left does not lack ideas it lacks determination."

Professor Cap de Vielle, on the other hand, regards those in the PS who are more liberal-inclined as the "caviar left and very Paris".

"The problem is that we're not getting much, if any debate on the left. There is a real demand for a real debate and it just isn't happening.

"The crisis is not so much in the country but in the politics."

A question: Will nothing be enough to win in 2007? Is the French public to be given another non-choice in 2007? Not between the lesser of two evils (Votez escroc, pas Facho !) but the lesser of two incompetents, a choice of voting for a candidate from the party that rules badly or a candidate from the party with no ideas with which to rule. Bonne chance !

PFFT (What is this?): Politics of misrule 4 | Politics of non-rule 4 |Rayonnement français 0

Mr Virot says the apparent shift of certain socialists towards the middle ground and greater acceptance of the inevitability of the free market is evidence of a "Blairiste" influence on the Gallic left.

Now there’s a word you don’t see every day.

"It's not that it [Socialiststs/Left] has no power. It's that it feels it has no power and has felt this for some time. The left does not lack ideas it lacks determination."

Well, I think they really don’t want power; just the benefits. Somewhat like Hamas. It is really easy to just sit back and protest this, say the government is doing that….but it’s an entirely different ballgame when they are the ones that actually have to do something in the government.

In the link to le Site du Parti Socialiste was very interesting. Lots of good stories:

Le racisme : un fléau persistant!.

que la prostitution forcée est une réalité quotidienne en France, que la loi Sarkozy de 2003 a profondément aggravée.

Just two from many choices. Oh, and no Latin :)