Thread by @IdeologyWars

🇫🇷 Marie Le Pen potentially leading polls w/ youth? What's up w/ that? Well as a young man who himself was once led astray by the alluring nature of far-right nationalism and radical politics, enjoy a personal view on what I think is happening here in thread format. 🧵

Le Pen in particular is an interesting figure, because she says all the right words to attract just the right amount of people to her words. Feminism? She's got your back, but she's again the "threat" of neo-feminism, that's bonus points with both men and trad-feminists.

She's pro-#nuclear power and for hydro-electric. #France already moving in this direction under Macron so good choice by her there. She wants to smack down wind and solar, also good on enticing that nuclear energy community, and one of her few points I actually respect.

Now we get to the more... questionable if not outright concerning points she makes. De-Islamization. #France has a touchy history with post-#Arab Spring immigration, that's the facts. She's taken advantage of this to tote a radical response to eliminating this problem.

She wants to basically close #France off to immigration and find solutions to the existing perceived problem. This resonates greatly with not just youth but all groups in France. This is likely where she gets her widest audience.

She also opposes the #EU in basically every sense of its current form. #Euroscepticism is slowly on the rise across the Union. If she were elected and managed to get them to leave... it could very well spell the end of the current #EU.

Economically she leans all over the place on the left and the right. Protectionism is an obvious response to the already occurring "de-globalization" but also to a young group of men and women disillusioned with what global trade has "given them".

Imagine for a moment you're a young person... 18-25. You've been told by Le Pen that other nations stole your jobs, your opportunities from you. You probably do work a subpar job... and it makes sense to you even if it is or isn't true.

She opposes #NATO (a long time #French issue across left and right-wing administrations), but something that is increasingly gaining traction in the mainstream. Many French believe that France should lead its own pack and agenda in Europe and abroad.

So... what is the solution? Well, there isn't one now mostly because politics are consistently radicalizing and polarizing more in most democracies worldwide. I saw it in 2019 through 2021 by myself, but not all young people are like me.

I'm of the mind our world is headed toward a historical upheaval, the kind we usually see every 100-200 years that defines the next century or two. I hope this upheaval destroys radical politics but really only time will tell.