William E. Saracino
September 3, 2004

During World War II, Vichy France became the capitol of the small part of that country that was not physically occupied by the Germans. The government that existed there however was installed, maintained  and manipulated by the Nazis.  In spite of the fact that WWI hero Marshal Petain was head of the government, the term “Vichy” became synonymous with treason and collaboration with the enemy.  

After the war Petain was tried and convicted of such collaboration. Vichy’s unsavory reputation even made its way into the movie Casablanca, which shows Claude Rains tossing a bottle of “Vichy water” into the trash can, symbolizing the completion of his alliance with Humphrey Bogart.

Consistent Gallic opposition to Iraq’s liberation shows how deeply ingrained in the French psyche is the “Vichy impulse”.  Though their anti-Americanism dates from the 60’s, recent French policy has brought it to a new level of feverishness. Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister traveled the globe in the weeks before the Iraq invasion, goading fence sitting nations into anti-American stances.  He flat out lied to Colin Powell about their intentions on the final U.N. vote on Iraq.  Shortly after the war started Villepin refused to answer a reporter who asked if he hoped to see an American victory.

France has remained hostile since the liberation, vetoing the use of a NATO brigade  to help stabilize Baghdad, for instance, and insisting that previously agreed to NATO training of Iraqi security forces take place outside of Iraq. Their “thumb in the eye” attitude extends also to Afghanistan, where they blocked the deployment of a small NATO force to provide security for upcoming elections.

In short, France is no longer an ally of the United States. Its foreign policy amounts to “what’s bad for the United States is good for France”.  Jacques Chirac, their strutting popinjay of a President, lets few public occasions pass without a snide remark or sneer directed at America and Americans.

That being the case, I find it most strange that the state of California, through its lottery, is subsidizing a French corporation. The multinational corporation in question, Oberthur Gaming Technologies, a subsidiary of Groupe Francois-Charles Oberthur, prints the tens of millions of “scratcher” game tickets for the California lottery.  The lottery will tell you  that the tickets are printed in Texas, but not that the plant’s pedigree is French, not Texan.

Groupe Francois-Charles website boasts of being a “true multinational company leveraging global resources” and of their ability to separate people from their discretionary income. It talks about starting “E-gaming” and “M-Gaming” over the internet and cellular devices, thereby establishing “hundreds of thousands of points of sale”, and “virtual distribution” of its lottery products.  Are you ready for lottery ads and sales on your cell phone and blackberry?

I suppose it is conceivably justifiable to do business with people who hate you if they are delivering a superior product and making you money in the process.  But this is clearly not the case with our lottery, whose sales are slumping while other states are booming. California has twice the population of New York but only half the lottery sales. We have fewer sales than Massachusetts, which has only 6 million residents. So why are we sending our money to France? 

Given the current brouhaha about outsourcing jobs, is it really impossible to find a California or American company to supply our lottery? To spread the blame here a bit, the Governor has contracted with a Canadian firm to propose ways to save on state contracting and purchasing.  A most worthy goal but again, is there nobody in California or the U.S. capable of providing comparable quality services? 

In the private realm, must all of my customer service calls be answered by folks 10,000 miles away whose knowledge of the English language matches my knowledge of nuclear physics? (Hint – my knowledge of nuclear physics matches the Chicago Cub’s knowledge of how to win a World Series).  Perhaps this is all inevitable with the shrinking globe and expanding global economy.

But there are certain things taxpayers should still have control over, and sending our tax dollars to countries that aid our enemies is one of them. Being the grandson of four immigrants, xenophobia has never appealed to me.  But being an American, doing business with allies not enemies does appeal to me.  

The time for jokes about “cheese eating surrender monkeys” – no matter how true - is past.  Every day seems to bring a new example of the French government working hard to make sure America fails on the international stage.  Whether the venue is Iraq, Afghanistan, NATO or the U.N., you will find the French working hard, and at times effectively, against the vital interests of the United States. They are collaborating with America’s foes now, just as the Vichy-ists did in WWII.

I will leave the diplomacy to the diplomats.  But as a tax-paying Californian I find it outrageous and insulting that my tax dollars are being fed to that nation of ingrates and poseurs.  Texas, home to Groupe Francois’ manufacturing plant, just chose an American based company instead of Groupe Francois for a major lottery contract. It is time California do the same as soon as legally possible and in so doing send a message to the Vichy-ists of the world: You are free to be as anti-American as you want, but we are free to keep our dollars out of your pockets.

California should follow example of Claude Rains, and drop its bottle of Vichy water into the trash can. A bottle of Calistoga water will do the job just fine.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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