Merkel and austerity…
But Merkel’s previous partner, the FDP (Free Democratic Party), a group defined as “classically liberal” and in favor of policies somewhat to the right, has lost enough votes that it will no longer be part of Merkel’s coalition government.
I can’t quite sort that out; perhaps someone more in tune with German politics can help (commenter “expat,” where are you?).
A few hints appear in this WSJ article. It seems that the FDP’s previous support was split by the emergence of a new, anti-euro party, and overshadowed by Merkel’s huge popularity. Plus, “squabbling among its leadership” weakened the FDP this go-round (sound familiar?).
The FDP used to be classically liberal. They followed along with the Eurozone bailouts without the least hesitation. In addition, they fully supported the CDU’s (their larger coalition partner) sudden and complete turnaround in energy policy, i.e., turning off the nuclear power plants and promising a glorious future of 50-80% wind and solar power – the Green Party couldn’t have done it better. What do we need a smaller party for that simply parrots the larger coalition partner’s positions?
Then the AfD (“Alternative fé¼r Deutschland”, “Alternative for Germany”) came along and took the classical liberal positions vacated by the FDP. The few FDP people who tried to start a discussion about the FDP’s directions were ruthlessly booted out. That’s the “squabbling among its leadership” you read about.
The last four years’ FDP has been the very model of a sell-out. Good riddance to them. I voted AfD.
For quite a while now (with the appearance of Guido Westerwelle) the FDP has been trying to be cool. Westerwelle is gay, so that was supposed to prove their coolness. Then, instead of taking an economic cabinet post, he decided he had to inherit the foreign ministry from Hans Dieter Genscher. He has done nothing in that job but spit out platitudes. Also, the FDP has been pushing for lower taxes rather than reforming the tax system, which is what their small business supporters wanted. Other FDP leaders have also been inept. There are one or two decent thinkers who could move into leadership positions, but no one really trusted Westerwelle, Ré¶sle, or Bré¼derle.
The anti-Euro party probably did pull some votes from the FDP, but I’m not sure how many. I suspect that a lot of business people would like to rein in European regulators and hate bailing out Greece. On the other hand, a single currency does make things easier for the Exportweltmeister.
Another interesting fact that has come to light that recently is that early position papers of the Greens, contributed to by Jurgen Trittin (a party and insufferable know it all) and Volker Beck (who is gay), advocated loosening laws against pedophilia. No party screamed louder about the Catholic church scandals than the Greens. They have never repented their own positions. Trittin is still pushing the Energiewende, when I don’t think most Germans are impressed by the results.
Western Germany votes majority wise for the CDU. East Germany votes almost overwhelmingly for the socialists.
SO basically, once socialism and communism occupies you, they don’t ever leave. Ever.
Another lesson for the quivering GOPers if they would only heed it.
My husband is following the results pretty closely. He just heard that the FDP did squeak into the parliament in the state of Hesse. I’m not sure yet what that means for the state results, but it is a bit of a face saver for the FDP. I hope they are smart enough to build on it.
My husband also thinks the national AfD votes were largely protest votes that came from all parties. He thinks they will fade. From what I have heard they want a dropout from the Euro, but haven’t built a solid platform to criticize Brussels bureaucracy and overregulation. That probably means that by the next election, there will be a new hot topic rather than the Greek bailout.
From Had Enough Therapy: “As we speak, Germany is engaged in leading the world toward renewable energy. Proposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel the policy enjoys support from all political groups.”
It appears this policy is failing quite badly. I’m surprised that Merkel is still that popular. There is a new phrase in the German lexicon – “energy poverty.” Shutting down nuclear and coal fired plants has led to much higher prices. And has not lowered carbon emissions!
Read it all here;
http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-greening-of-germany.html
Some excellent comments as well. This should be a cautionary tale for the U.S. as the EPA has begun the demolition of our coal industry and coal fired energy.
Energy poverty can lead to all kinds of economic problems. Modern economies float on a sea of affordable energy. Germany, the economic giant of the EU may be committing suicide.
JJ,
There is some pushback against the Energiewende by people who know something about energy, but unfortunately the German MSM cannot be included in that group. Every Green predicted catastrophe is reported, as is every human rights violation by the US, with no counterarguments. I think part of the German reaction to its Nazi past and the Holocaust is a need to assert its current moral superiority now. You often hear, We have learned the lessons of WWII: no more war
Sorry, I don’t know how that posted before I finished my sentence.
Anyway, No more war, no more thinking that we are the center of the universe, except of course when Germans think they are called on to save the planet. The average person is inundated wih these messages and they have gone along with them. There is some discomfort at being dependent on Russia for natural gas and even more at having to pay more for energy to support windfarms. At some point the IPCC fraud will be acknowledged and the people will say no to all this Green-imposed idiocy. Maybe someday they will even take off their rose-colored glasses when they talk of the UN.
Don’t think the rest of us have forgotten how the German SDP party used anti American propaganda to win elections, while exploiting our bases there for profit as much as they could.
Everyone in the human race will pay for their crimes against humanity, including the nation of America. The only question is, how high will be your compound interest on the debt and how long before the debt is called.
Ymarsakar is wrong when he/she says that the former East German territories “almost overwhelmingly votes for the socialists”, which in practical terms means for Die Linke (The Left) party, avowed successor to the old state communist party of East Germany.
Could be it used to be like that. These days however Die Linke has been much reduced even in the east.
It’s only in Berlin that they won two or three precincts directly, and in percentage terms they are down to around twenty per cent or less pretty much everywhere in the east, coming in there as a clear second behind Merkel’s CDU (though generally before the Social Democrats / SPD, Merkel’s likely future partner in a grand coalition).
In fact, in the eastern state of Saxony, Die Linke has been a rather marginal player ever since reunification, hovering around ten percent there.
To many in the east, especially the humbler folks among those who still grew up under socialism, Die Linke just is their “tribal” and allegedly protective party, regardless of the actual policies they advocate. As this segment of the population diminishes, support of Die Linke slowly erodes and crumbles in the east, leaving them with only their hard core ideological voters. The number of those I would estimate at around the Saxonian ten percent.
which in practical terms means for Die Linke (The Left) party,
Here’s where the propaganda starts rolling.
Because the SDP is the primary socialist party.
Were people foolish enough to think the old evil wouldn’t switch skins to something more favored by the fair folks…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany
Yeah. So the propaganda line, I presume, is that the “socialists” are weak and irrelevant. Ignore them for now.
That’ll work out well.
What’s wrong about humans is they like coming up with convincing self deceptive lies about stuff they don’t want to deal with.
Judging by Michael’s propaganda theme, I presume he is one of the Anointed, the Convinced, or the Believers in this humanity of ours.