NationStates Jolt Archive

They're working hard on removing my last hint of support for the democratic system...

Back in the day, I voted for Merkel because of that "Befreiungsschlag" speech, where she said she would remove all these chains tied around the country. I felt she was in a better position to do it than the FDP could have been.

And now...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,514179,00.html
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has failed to live up to her promise of being a reformer. Instead of acting like an iron lady she is barely putting up a fight as her coalition partner the SPD turns to the left and demands a reversal of key welfare reforms.

Meanwhile...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,514174,00.html
Germany's beleaguered Social Democrats have sought to re-invent themselves at its party congress on the weekend. Among the measures in the party's new platform are a speed limit for autobahns and a return to the party's traditional values. Observers are divided about the wisdom of the shift to the left.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,513117,00.html
Kurt Beck, the bear-like leader of Germany's ailing Social Democrats, is stamping a cuddly new image on the party to woo back estranged voters. Analysts say the provincial politician has been underestimated -- just like former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

So where does that leave me? For the first time in something like a decade, things have been actually looking up (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,479149,00.html) in Germany, as a result of unpopular but necessary reforms to the welfare state, undertaken by Schröder (who was from the SPD). It looks like 2007 the government will actually have a budget surplus, something absolutely unheard of. As a result, the SPD has been fractured ever since, with their traditional voters alienated. So what's the solution? Ignore causality, and reverse the reforms!

So what do you reckon?

Speed limits on the Autobahn?

Shame on you, SPD, SHAME ON YOU!

If Merkel wants to be clever, she would be well advised to begin to confront the SPD over, and over, and over again on every possible issue. Weaken the grand coalition to the point that it shatters, and forces new elections. Hype the image of the SPD as obstructionists, hammer it home. The CDU needs to highlight that, and the successes that the reforms the SPD oppose. Be aggressive, be open and be confrontational.

That's how the CDU can force the issue, and if it were to be successful, I would imagine a coalition with the FDP would be possible.

Merkel should be looking to Scandinavia for reforms, not America, neoliberalism only ever results in one thing - concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.

What a surprise; another supposed 'capitalist' does nothing for their cause (like Reagan and Bush II.) I really have to wonder who advances leftism more, the socialist who actively campaigns for more intervention, or his opponent who passively campaigns for it by letting his ideals languish beneath their empty words.

Tell my something my German friend,if things are getting so good in Germany,why the salaries of the working people are the same where the profits of the capitalists are growing all the time???And why for the first time a left party,Die Linke has entered the Parliament???
The SPD cannot turn to the left,they are totally with the capitalists side.

One solution,revolution!:p

Tell my something my German friend,if things are getting so good in Germany,why the salaries of the working people are the same where the profits of the capitalists are growing all the time???
Because there are lots of unemployed people who are now entering the workforce again. If demand is up, but supply goes up as well, price won't change by a lot.

Of course, if you prefer high wages for a few and unemployment for 5 million others, feel free to say so.

And why for the first time a left party,Die Linke has entered the Parliament???
Several reasons:
1) The SPD pissed off its left wing.
2) Lafontaine is a very skillful populist.
3) In East Germany there is still a substantial following of the former SED around.
4) People just hate Hartz IV, even though most of them are not affected in the least.

They're working hard on removing my last hint of support for the democratic system...

What are you hinting towards these days? Theorectically, of course.

What are you hinting towards these days? Theorectically, of course.
Probably rule by constitution. A benevolent dictatorship doesn't stay so for long, but a benevolent constitution hopefully would.

So you have a constitution that protects people from their government and each other and specifies the basic workings of government agencies, and anything beyond that can be done by a regular democratic parliament, except without coercive power - if they want to do anything, they put it on the tax invoice with a box to tick next to it, and people can choose to participate in the program or not.