Election Night Special

I've been getting a lot of questions about politics lately, both from French people here and people at home. So I thought I'd do a little Election Day special. Before I start, I would like to clarify that this post is not an invitation to debate politics with me. This is not an attempt to change anyone's mind about who they are voting for (or, hopefully already voted for). If you feel the need to post a comment that argues against a point I make (though I plan to make very few politically-charged statements here), I urge you to think very seriously about why you are posting it. You will not change my mind. If you feel the need to post a comment, then there is pretty much no chance that I will change your mind, so what is the point in having an internet spat that will leave us both upset and angry? Ok. So now that that's out of the way, let's dig in a bit, shall we?