An Australian endorsement for Marine Le Pen

A business correspondent at The Australian makes the case for why to support Marine Le Pen in next week's French election:

If I were French I would vote for Marine Le Pen in next week’s presidential election. Not to do so would be to endorse the political and economic elites that have sapped the life out of ­industry, put the Fifth Republic on track for bankruptcy, forced taxpayers to bail out parasitic banks, and left the country exposed to Islamist terrorism.

More of the same? No thanks. France’s global rank on Cato ­Institute’s annual Human Freedom Index, for instance, has dropped from 20th to 31st since 2008 (Australia is sixth).

Le Pen’s popularity has surged since the global financial crisis. Thomas Piketty, France’s most ­famous economist, blames ­inequality and unemployment. “If we do not manage to fight these via effective progressive policies then you will always find politicians who will successfully try to divide the workers ­between ­nationals and foreigners, or some other ethnic or religious division,” he told me last week.

While she does have flaws, the above offers valid reasons why she's a candidate worth supporting, if to defend France from the jihadism that's now endangering the country.