What has France lead the way in, in the past which is of historical significance to US?

Oh I dunno... didn't they have a revolution once? And separate Church from State?

They did chop off some heads on a regular basis for a while. I guess we could do that.

They fried potatoes, didn't they ?

We called them Freedom Fries for quite sometime, but I really don't think they are French.

How about kissing ?

Fetchez La Vache - :D

try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8xtj9gFE90

Bri - great post !

I regret nothing! Put that on my stone! :)

Fantastic voice, but poor enunciation, I couldn't understand a word of it. ;)

We had already been there done that, so they weren't leading the way.

Also, in fairness, the French Revolution didn't exactly stick, ya know?

What France did, however, was provide/inspire some of the political theory and philosophy behind the American revolution, through the writings of French thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In that respect, the French arguably 'led the way' in political philosophy. French philosphers and writers did much to create the cultural context for revolution in America and then later in France; and very nearly in Britain.

But the denouement gives us the joy of new hope:

"Non! Rien de rien ...
"Non! Je ne regrette rien ...
"Car ma vie, car mes joies
"Aujourd'hui ça commence avec toi! !"