On Sunday, May 7, millions of voters across France voiced their support for presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron and the European Union. He overwhelmingly won, with 66.1% of the vote, compared with Marine Le Pen’s mere 33.9%. And this was despite serious worries about how Macron’s performance would be affected by abstaining voters, the wave of European populism, and a massive email hack of his campaign that drew striking similarities to the 2016 American presidential election.

Say what you will about Macron and Le Pen’s ideologies, the election was a model one.

It was an election of change. The two French establishment parties were pushed aside in favor of two candidates from relatively unknown parties.

It was an election of stability. The EU remains intact for another few years, hopefully. The European economy will not crash like if France had withdrawn under Le Pen. The EU’s strength together will help combat against Russia’s current military and political aggressiveness.

In other words it was an election that helped direct France (and the world) on the best path.

Why can’t America have an election like this? An election of a president who is popular yet sensitive, strong yet peaceful? Why not? The answer is simple. We can.

The whole point of a republic is that the people choose who’s in charge. So you want to make sure your voice counts. Choose candidates that you really believe in. Don’t feel pressured to make a compromise by going with the mainstream candidate if you believe more in a different one. That’s what the French just did, and it worked for them. So why can’t it work for us?

“Flag of France and EU” by Lars Born is lisenced under CC BY-SA 2.0