Fillon harms his own honour by shilling for the left
In today’s society, right-wing politicians have increasingly betrayed their voters and supporters by backing left-wing politicians, despite the latter’s danger to Western society and everything the right holds dear. Broadly speaking, politicians in general have shilled for their former opponents despite logic and common sense rendering these acts ignorant and incompetent. We saw this with Bernie Sanders, who shilled for Hillary Clinton in the US Presidential Election last year despite evidence pointing towards the latter rigging the Democratic primaries in order to secure the nomination. But Sanders not only displayed his own lack of honour, but disappointed his supporters to such an extent that many of them turned to Trump.
Similarly, the French Presidential Election has also been characterised by some dishonourable figures who have had a spectacularly lacklustre performance by transferring their support to those in the opposite side of the spectrum. Francois Fillon, the candidate for the centre-right Republican party, has endorsed former Socialist Emmanuel Macron, who now runs for his apparently centrist party, En Marche. To make matters worse, Fillon has condemned Marine by saying she’ll lead to “ruin and European chaos”. This is just another example that shows just how low right-wing politicians have sunk in order to mindlessly support establishment candidates, most likely due to political correctness and an attempt to preserve their popularity.
Such lack of honour, integrity, and true concern for the people is exactly why voters are turning towards the nationalist right. The fact that a centre-right candidate, a staunch supporter of both capitalism and social conservatism, has now endorsed a left-wing Socialist is a great example of the current reckless nature of establishment politics. One would expect a socially conservative, almost reactionary, traditional Catholic to support a candidate who wants to abolish same sex marriage in France and preserve the country’s ethnic identity. But one, of course, would be wrong. In this day and age, it is the unfortunate norm for a right-wing politician to support the left all in favour of left-wing artefacts.
And what is the main left-wing artefact in this case? The EU. Francois Fillon has asked his supporters to vote for Macron in the second round of the French election simply because he wants to see his country’s sovereignty to continue to be ravaged by Germany. This is despite the clash between Fillon’s economically free-market capitalist ideologies with the corrupt Socialist aspects held by the EU. It is simply baffling how an economically right-wing individual can support an economically left-wing quasi-imperialistic super-state. Furthermore, Fillon opposes Le Pen due to her economically protectionist policies. Yet why doesn’t he want to rescue France from an economically protectionist EU?
It is all well and good to look at this from a political perspective, but what about Fillon’s moral compass? His morality should’ve influenced him to avoid endorsing Macron right? No, and this tale of betrayal takes an even more tragic turn when one considers this aspect of an apparently “traditional Catholic”. Even Macron’s morally degenerate love life has not been enough for socially conservative quasi-reactionary Fillon to avoid supporting him. And this is where his honour takes the greatest hit.
And what is Macron’s degenerate love life? It just so happens that the centre-left candidate met his wife while she was his teacher when the latter was just 15 years of age. To make matters worse, she is 25 years his senior, has three grandchildren, and had a daughter attending the same class as Macron. Many on the conservative right will be readily disgusted by this story, but many libertarians may be questioning the legitimacy of criticising someone else’s personal love life. But such reservations would be invalidated when considering the fact that Macron was below the age of consent. And remember, the main argument here is the fact that a traditional Catholic is supporting a candidate with such a degenerate past.
Francois Fillon’s shilling for Macron has come as a great disappointment to many on the right. He may disagree with Marine’s economic policies, but it is completely uncalled for to support a former Socialist. The good news is, this may work in Marine’s favour. Disillusioned Republican voters will be even more encouraged to vote for the nationalist right as retaliation for Fillon’s endorsement of the enemy. After all, the rise of alternative right-wing parties around the Western world has been due to the establishment centre-right’s inability to appeal to mainstream voters. A similar situation, albeit of a left-wing context, was visible when many Bernie supporters switched to Trump after he pandered to Hillary. If Fillon’s words indeed put off right-wing voters in France, all French voters who care about the French nation and the safety of its people should be even more encouraged to vote for Marine, whose views are aligned with Republicans more than they realise.