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Reign Without Rule. De Gaulle has dealt even more sharply with the men and institutions that have blocked his path at home. Recalled to office in May 1958 at a time when the government was paralyzed by the threat of an army coup, he demanded and won "exceptional powers, for an exceptional task, at an exceptional time." In the past, the President had been largely a ceremonial figure who, in De Gaulle's scornful words, "reigned but did not rule." With his accession, the head of state was empowered for the first time to "determine and direct the policy of the nation," to appoint his own Cabinet and, if necessary, dissolve the Assembly.
To broaden its base and confer on the office the kind of prestige that he enjoys in his own right, De Gaulle last October sought and won the nation's support for his proposal that future heads of state be chosen by popular vote rather than by an electoral college of 81,000 local dignitaries. Balking at what his foes called a return to "personal rule" and "enlightened Bonapartism," the Assembly swiftly reacted by toppling Premier Georges Pompidou's government; De Gaulle retaliated by dissolving the Assembly, and intensified his crusade to annihilate the "rival and warring parties."
Nothing but Foam. Gaullists argue that France's President needs powers commensurate with those of his U.S. counterpart. In fact, the French constitution, the 15th since the Revolution, gives De Gaulle far more; it contains few of the checks and balances that safeguard U.S. freedoms. His power of dissolution is a mighty club over the legislature. France has no independent judiciary empowered to reject unconstitutional measures. Moreover, the President can bypass a balky Assembly at will by taking controversial issues to the people; he has already used the referendum seven times. While De Gaulle calls this process "direct democracy," constitutional lawyers object that the right to answer oui or non to a government's proposals is no substitute for democratic debate. De Gaulle shrugs aside such remonstrances. "Foam," he cries, "nothing but the foam of the wave. The depths of the popular wave are with me." The election results bore him out.
Cost of War. France did not vote for any specific philosophy or program labeled "Gaullism." Beyond the President's call to "national ambition, strength, influence," the party has no clear long-term goals—until De Gaulle himself proclaims them. De Gaulle's France has made impressive progress nonetheless. It has ended the ruinous Algerian war—though France is still pouring $2,000,000 a day into its former colony's economy and is spending even more for defense than it did at the height of war. France's 13 black African colonies have achieved orderly independence; all but Guinea still enjoy fruitful relations with each other and with Paris through the French Community. The rebellious army has been subdued and assuaged by the prospect of a new technological role, even if many officers complain that they did not choose a military career to become "technicians."