"We speak, with good reason, of a rift between civil society and political society, and we observe a certain crisis within the parties, a decline in their authority, and a diminished ability to resolve the problems of national life on the basis of understanding, consensus and trust. But is there not, at the root of this inadequate presence of the parties, an inability on our part, as the political class, to make use of the critical conscience and the willpower of the democratic grassroots?"