JUST THE OTHER DAY, I got a reader email asking what had happened to French libertarian firebrand Sabine Herold. I didn’t know the answer, but now, via Captain Ed, I see that she’s running for office:

Sabine Hérold, who sprang to fame when she led a protest movement against French workers’ readiness to go on strike, now hopes to exploit growing disillusionment with her country’s political elite by winning a seat in parliament.

Miss Hérold, 25, who regards her French media nickname – Mlle Thatcher – as a compliment, also refuses to rule out standing as a candidate to replace Jacques Chirac as president next year. . . .

Miss Hérold claims that neither Nicolas Sarkozy nor Ségolène Royal, the presidential front-runners from the main parties, will be able to impose the reforms France needs to shake it out of “trade union dictatorship” and excessive state control.

Her own politics, she says, would transform France.

They would, and for the better. And blogospheric France-bashing notwithstanding, the world would be a better place if France were stronger, richer, and more confident along the lines she proposes.