Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

French President Emmanuel Macron shook up world diplomatic circles on July 24 with his announcement that come September, France will recognize Palestine as an independent nation. How much that decision will affect the Israel-Hamas war is debatable, but it certainly ratchets up the pressure on Israel to ease its brutal treatment of millions of defenseless Palestinians in Gaza. Israel may already be getting the message.

On July 27, three days after Macron’s announcement, Israel announced it would begin 10-hour “humanitarian pauses” in certain areas of Gaza to permit some aid convoys into the besieged enclave, and its intention to create a few permanent “humanitarian corridors” via which convoys would travel.

Matt Hardin suggests five reforms to make voting easier in the U.S., modeled on how presidential elections are conducted in France.

I recently took a vacation to Paris and got to see French democracy up close.

While my wife and I were there, France held the second and final round of its presidential election, which is a simple runoff between the top two candidates from the first round.

On April 24 the incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron, soundly defeated the far right candidate, Marine Le Pen, 59 percent to 41 percent. One of the most reported-on figures in the French media was the abstention rate—the percent of registered voters who didn’t vote.

According to the French, the 28 percent abstention rate (so, 72 percent turnout) is an alarming sign for their democracy. Usually, only about 15 to 20 percent of French voters stay home.

Despite the hand wringing in France, the comparatively low abstention and high turnout stunned me. I wanted to understand how they do it.