Louisiana’s
French heritage is a blessing in many ways, giving a unique quality to her
culture – to the way her people speak, to her music, to her calendar, and so on
with the rest. But it also has its
downsides, one of them being a resistance to necessary political reform.
A review of
French history reveals why this is the case:
The higher economic classes in French society have always been extremely
jealous of the fiefs they control and are loathe to relinquish any of the
influence and power they wield. In older
times, this class was the feudal nobility, whose vast land holdings and
numerous clients dependent on them gave them tremendous power in French
politics. Today in la Louisiane we
would recognize them as special interests – local governments and
organizations, universities, trial lawyers, and the like. They have a different name than their
medieval French counterparts, but their function in Louisiana politics is the
same: The large amount of financial
resources they control and the crowds of people who depend on them in some way
give them a lot of sway in Louisiana politics.
The selfish
oligarchy have been content at times to allow the common good and even the
unity of the French country itself decay and crumble to allow them to retain
and/or enhance their own status. An
identifiable French country has come close to dying out on a number of
occasions, only to be saved by a Providentially sent ‘revivalist’ (to use Scott
McKay’s term again). The latter years of
the Merovingian dynasty was one of those times, when the central power grew
weak and some of the nobility rose up against the kings, but France was united again
and the uprisings quelled by Pippin III (8th century), who began the
energetic Carolingian dynasty.
Another
episode occurred in the 15th century during the Hundred Years’ War
with England. This time, much of the
nobility had defected from the rightful heir to the French throne, Charles VII,
and allied themselves with the English who occupied large swaths of France at
the time. But the sudden appearance of Joan of Arc
reversed the fortunes of the French, King Charles was able to be properly
anointed and coronated, and France was restored as a nation in Western Europe.
The worst
showing of the French oligarchs came in WWII when the French government under
Marshal Petain capitulated to the German Nazis and became their puppets. Charles
de Gaulle emerged at this time, who, with God’s help and few others’,
slowly built up a resistance force that saved France from extinction.
Louisiana
has faced moments like these. Bienville
kept the Louisiana colony afloat during its turbulent early years, when
missteps by others with the Native Americans and with finances put her young
life in peril. The carpetbaggers and
scalawags had turned Louisiana into a sewer of corruption during
Reconstruction; Francis
Nichols as governor cleaned much of that out. And while his socialism and corruption are
repugnant, Huey Long
is also one of those leaders who was able to overcome powerful entrenched
interests for the sake of (his distorted vision of) the common good.
A major
complication in efforts to rein in the oligarchy in countries descended from
France is the arrogance of the French upper classes, who see themselves as a
chosen, privileged group of people. The
lower classes therefore have difficulty in finding champions to help them in
resolving their legitimate grievances against any of the upper classes’ members. This smug attitude was on clear display
during the Hundred Years’ War, when some of the crossbowmen hired as
mercenaries from Genoa to fight alongside the French knights were literally
trampled down by the latter because of some casual remarks of King Philip VI on
their way to a battle. About six decades
later, 6,000 volunteer crossbowmen from Paris were not taken into battle and
were belittled by the French nobles who wondered ‘what they needed “these
shopkeepers” for’ (Henry Myers, Medieval Kingship, Nelson-Hall, Chicago,
1982, pgs. 324-5).
However,
though the French character is a powerful and defining factor in Louisiana
politics, it is not the only one. There
is also the English heritage to consider, and it is nearly the opposite of the
French. For while the French are
hampered by class divisiveness, the English are not. There has been rancor between the two at
times, but the upper and lower classes of England have been able to form a
closer, friendlier bond. This is
expressed quite beautifully in the life of St. Edmund, King of East
Anglia (martyred by the Viking Danes in 869 A.D.), who was the original patron
saint of England prior to the Norman invasion in 1066 that overturned so much
of Orthodox English life:
Edmund was tall, with fair hair, well-built
and with a particular majesty of bearing. He was a wise and honest man, pious
and chaste in all his deeds. In all things he always strove to please God and
by his pure life and glorious works he won the respect of all his subjects.
Edmund was very meek and humble: he knew that, becoming a king, he could never
be conceited with his countrymen, but should only be on a par with everybody in
the kingdom. Edmund was protector of the Church and a shelter for orphans, was
generous to the poor and cared for widows like a loving father. All who pleaded
to him for justice received help. It was said that even children could walk
alone great distances in the kingdom without any fear for themselves under St.
Edmund. The holy king corrected the stubborn and impious and led his country to
repentance. He served his nation so selflessly that he even refused marriage,
laboring wholeheartedly for the good of the people.
. . .
The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/06/garlington-french-culture-and-resistance-to-change/.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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