just the watch: what if Le Pen is elected this Sunday?

No, this is not science. Just "The Watch," casual impressions as I watch the world, as friends like Quakers and Yeshua urged me to do months ago. (Previous post.)

Is it science fiction? I certainly do not predict that LePen will win. That would be a bit crazy, when France 24 reports polls saying it is 60-40 Macron, that Obama has endorsed Macron, and when all Europe has memories of fascism which they associate her with emotionally. But this year, we have learned that crazy things might happen, and that it pays to be prepared for unexpected contingencies.

In fact, I watch France24 more and more lately. Just the other day, when Trump came on CNN to gloat about the House cation on health care -- Watch or no Watch, my stomach has limited ability to cope with what my brain and my radar would report; change channels; the debate between LePen and Macron was far more within my ability to handle, and more justifiable even to The Watch, even to the US manifestation of The Watch. But even so, it was a bit hard to handle, as they screamed at each other in a more disorderly and focused fashion than any of the US debates this year (yes, that is humanly possible!), and as I tried to sort out words from two male translators having troubles with the flow and speaking at the same time. (Should I look for a better version on U-Tube today? I would if I lived in France.)

France24 reported that other EU nations (including UK for now) expressed envy of their uninhibited deep dialogue, but that most people polled said "the winner" was whomever they supported before the debate. Some other folks said "no content."

Well, to me, there was a lot of content. So much content that I would seriously consider voting for LePen myself if I had a vote... but of course if I did I would look a whole lot more closely first.

Let me emphasize that I did vote for Hillary Clinton over Trump this year, albeit in a halfhearted way without anger or prejudice or even emotional opposition to family members who voted for Trump.
I was halfhearted mainly because I feared what they would do to Hillary if she were elected, though I suppose I was also worried about her ability to connect with leaders and cultures in other parts of the world.

This reminds me of the old sufi story where a guy asks his friend how he gets so much cooperation and love form his mules or his camels. "Oh," says the guy," It's because of how much love I treat them with." "Oh," says the guy," but I tried that and it never works for me." "Well, let me show you." So guy two goes up to a new camel, hits it hard on the head, and then... Guy one says: "But that's not love." "Well," says guy two," First I needed to get him to notice me." I would strongly object to a mystical teacher who really acts that way (or really puts a student's head under water), but maybe Trump does better that way sometimes than Hillary does, or maybe Putin never really got Hillary's attention despite trying that way. Whatever. In my view, a really good sufi teacher would TELL these stories, and try to wake up his student, without really causing even mild danger or pain. But then again, when I read McLaine's "Out on a Limb," I swore I would never follow or respect a teacher who dragged a student off onto such a dangerous and unnecessary trail... but I certainly did follow Luda in Crimea when she dragged me onto a trail which was much MORE dangerous. (Past blog post mentioned our trip to Crimea a bit.)

But between Macron and LePen... the debate created a very different first-order impression.

Remembering the debate, I also remember trips Luda and I made to many far parts of Italy and Spain, where we spoke to people about their lives and their politics. talking to people added a kind of 3D reality" to what I see on France24 and other media. In essence... after the Great Recession of 2008,
the big priority issue was JObs Versus Debt. Big issue number one. A stupid problem, due to lack of in-depth vector intelligence (or knowledge of the energy sector) by folks making decisions. But that has been supplanted by the complex of Third Caliphate movement (led by Erdogan) and associated issues of terrorism and Islamization of Europe, which also lies behind brexit. In the debate, Macron made it clear he is fixated on the older issue, and committed to nice airy-fairy Kurzweil-type solutions guaranteed to make problems worse (SEE my earlier post on jobs, jobs, jobs), and grossly in denial about the second problem.   LePen has her Trumpain tendencies, which are certainly not perfection on earth... but the greatest primary danger of fascism today is from Erdogan (and his backers and fifth columns), not from her.

When Macron accused LePen of trying to sell "pixie" dust, I was amused and pleased at the rhetoric.
It was funny to see the translators and commentators trying to explain this unique Gallic concept not translatable into English... and I wonder if it came to France via the French version of Peter Pan. In any case, it was nice to hear an echo of my feeble attempts to get people to think more rationally about space policy, and to avoid being suckered EITHER by "blue pixie dust" (like Lamar Smith and his minimum-tech Space Launch System brown jobs boondoggle) OR by "pink pixie dust" (like Macron and the nice friendly elves who work for Musk, nice people but not exactly Rickovers or Carnegies). But Macron's pink pixie dust is more delusional than Musk's, and I see more hope for Musk to jump a level than I do for Macron right now.

And so: "Pick the psychosis of your choice. Vote for mania or vote for depression, but whatever you do, vote." I certainly would vote, if I had a vote in this election. We are all part of humanity, and should not pretend that failure to vote is not an affirmative action in itself. I do hope we do not see a Frexit or a loss of NATO... let alone a loss of human rights in France like some of the sad things Trump is doing right now... but Islamization of Europe  under Erdogan's style of control would not be so good (or so stable) either.

Sad things: "Who came up with that complicated system in the Senate?" Jefferson, that's who. Should we really replace the Jefferson book with a new Trump book? Does Trump appreciate the challenges and requirements of stable democracy as much as Jefferson did? Likewise, separation of church and state, where George Washington and the Free Quakers may have understood the higher needs of the human spirit a bit better. It's even more complicated than health care, folks! Hitting the car with a sledge hammer is not such a good idea.

The sledge hammer of our choice?

In the larger picture, no, do not choose ANY sledge hammer!! But when voting, it's a different story.

Best of luck. We need it.