François Fillon Confronts French Socialism, while Fidel Castro's Death Leaves Cuba Impoverished and in the Grip of Tryanny

Two important things happened this weekend. First, the positive. • • • One of the world's great democracies voted on Sunday. French conservatives -- who are the children of General De Gaulle and the natural majority in France -- voted in the second round of the 2017 presidential primary. It was the first "open" primary in French history -- that is not only conservative party members but also centrists and socialists could vote in the conservative primary election. Open primaries have been talked about for some time in France, but it was Les Républicains, the Gaullist party led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy, that decided to do it. Sarkozy lost in the first round, but his protégé François Fillon, who was Sarkozy's prime minister for the entire 5 years of Sarkozy's presidency -- rare in France -- won last weekend, and he won again Sunday, beating Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppé, 66% to 34%. This means that next April, Fillon will take the conservatives into the first round of the presidential race. He will face the failed Socialist Party's candidate -- there is a scramble inside the Socialist leadership to try to convince the bitterly disliked sitting President François Hollande, whose polls show him at a 12% favorability rating, to retire and let someone else try to salvage the Socialist cause. Whoever the Socialists choose, he will face an uphill battle against Marine Le Pen of the nationalist populist Front National. It seems inevitable that the Socialist candidate will lose in the first round, and the second round of the presidential election in May will pit Fillon against Marine Le Pen. The result will be that the French will rally around François Fillon, who represents the values and political agenda that most French agree with, and he will be elected president. • Like Donald Trump in the US, Fillon has pulled the Gaullists (Les Républicains) more overtly to the right, working for three years in the villages and cities of France to convince them that the only way to save France is to end the entitlement mindset of the Socialists that sounds good but has brought France to her knees socially, economically and fiscally. François Fillon is almost surely going to be the next President of France, and his job will be herculean -- convince the powerful French unions to accept longer work weeks than the current 35 hours; revise the French tax code to attract new businesse to France and to save the French businesses crushed by high taxes and crippling regulations; revise the costly and deeply indebted French socialized healthcare sytem; create a sane immigration policy that does not destroy French cultural values; and, by means of all this, begin to refill the empty coffers of the French governnment because France is now virtually bankrupt. • If this sounds familiar, it is. Donald Trump just won the US presidential election promising essentially the same agenda. What happened in America, and in Britain with its vote to leave the European Union, is now happening in France. And next weekend, a national referendum in Italy may well produce a similar result. It could be that we are seeing a fundamental historical change in the West. Socialism and globalism may be on their way down into the dustbin of "isms" that have tried but failed to reduce Western democracy to an elitist nanny state where individuals and personal liberties are crushed in favor of an all-powerful state apparatus. Donald Trump and François Fillon are point men in this surging war against socialism. • • • The other big news of the weekend was the announcement that longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the bearded revolutionary who planted Marxist Communism in the western hemisphere, died Friday. He was 90. • US President Barack Obama issued a statement that infuriated many Americans, saying : “At this time of Fidel Castro’s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans -- in Cuba and in the United States -- with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him. For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends - bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity. This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba. Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro's family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.” The mainstream media followed Obama's cue, praising Castro. • The lawyer, revolutionary and political leader who triggered visceral reactions in America for 57 years, was born August 13, 1926, out of wedlock to a Cuban sugar plantation owner and a servant in his home. (They eventually married.) He was not formally recognized by his father until he was 17, when his surname was changed to Castro from Ruz, his mother's name. Though he spent the better part of his life railing against capitalism and the rich, Castro enjoyed a wealthy and privileged childhood. He attended Jesuit boarding schools, and developed a love for sports, pitching for El Colegio de Belen’s baseball team. He attended the University of Havana law school, where he joined groups that focused on Cuban nationalism and socialism. After graduation, having become a revolutionary, he took up arms against the government of President Fulgencio Batista, eventually defeating Batista in 1959, thus taking control of Cuba at the age of 32. Castro's government established relations with the Soviet Union. In April 1961 Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state just days before the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion that saw 1,400 Cuban exiles trained by the CIA unsuccessfully attempt to invade and topple his government. Castro intensified relations with the Soviet Union and in 1962 US reconnaissance planes discovered Soviet missiles on their way to Cuban sites, precipitating a tense standoff between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. But in the 1980s, Russia stopped taking Cuban sugar, causing widespread economic deprivation that resulted in thousands of Cubans trying to flee to the US by sea. Castro often spoke with resentment and disgust of the Cubans who left the island because of his government, particularly those who went into exile in the United States, whom he called “guzanos,” the Spanish word for “worms.” Cuban exiles, centered in Miami, responded with equal disdain, with many forming organizations solely focused on getting Castro out of power. In 2008, Fidel, whose health was failing, handed over power to his younger brother Raul. • Within half an hour of the Cuban government's official announcement that former President Fidel Castro had died, Miami's Little Havana burst inot impromptu parades and cheers. Thousands of people banged pots with spoons, waved Cuban and American flags in the air and shouted in jubilation on Calle Ocho (8th Street). Honking and salsa music from car stereos echoed, and fireworks lit up the night sky. Police blocked off streets leading to Cafe Versailles, the quintessential Cuban American hotspot. "Cuba si! Castro no!" they chanted, while others yelled "Cuba libre!" • Cubans fled their island to find safety in Miami, Tampa, New Jersey and elsewhere after Castro took power in 1959. Some were loyalists of Fulgencio Batista, and others left with the hope they would be able to return soon, after Castro was toppled. It never happened. Many others believed they would not be truly free under Castro and his communist regime. Thousands left behind their possessions, loved ones, and hard-earned educations and businesses, traveling to the US by plane, boat or raft. Many Cubans died on the ocean trip to South Florida. And many never returned to see their childhood homes, their neighborhoods, their playgrounds, their businesses, their families, because Castro was still in power. The Cubans who made it to Miami took a vehemently anti-Castro stance. Many Cubans were successful and raised families in Miami despite having to learn a new language and re-start their lives. Exiles who arrived as teenagers with no money became millionaires, political leaders, clergy members, and teachers contributing to the fabric of American society. • One journalist called Obama's statement "carefully-worded." Mark Knoller said : "President Obama's statement on Fidel's death carefully-worded to avoid condemnations of his decades of dictatorship. It is absolutely sickening to watch the White House and the Mainstream Media mourn the loss of their beloved Castro -- a ruthless dictator who was the personification of evil." Senator Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who fled Castro's Cuba, was enraged by President Obama's half-hearted attempt to whitewash Castro's atrocities : "President Obama issued a pathetic statement on death of dictator #FidelCastro with no mention of thousands he killed & imprisoned. I would hope that [the Obama Admin.] would send no one to the funeral." • But, Donald Trump's statement sums up Fidel Castro in unequivocal terms. Here is President-Elect Trump's full statement : "Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve. Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba." • • • Dear readers, rarely do two more different events and messages seize the world's attention simultaneously. François Fillon showing that good men can and do win if they are hard-working and honest with people. Fidel Castro, showing that even the worst of tyrants finally die.