Socialism, of course, has never worked. Not once. Not in any form.
And German social democracy (like social democracy and their even cheaper imitations everywhere else around the world), although doing its best not to ever actually use the word socialism itself, is of course nothing other than the democratic attempt to reach that very goal. Which has never worked (once “reached”), like I said. But still.
So today the German SPD gets to celebrate its bittersweet 150th birthday — trailing badly in polls ahead of September elections and hearing praise for its efforts to reform Europe’s biggest economy from French President Francois Hollande, a recent left-wing winner who has also lost his luster.
Hey, whatever. More power to them and Happy Birthday and all that because, well, I kind of admire them in a way. But only kind of. They’re like a bunch of nutty professors who simply refuse to believe that their never-ending pursuit of the perpetual motion machine is maybe sort of not such a great idea – and a big waste of time after all. You know, searching for a machine that produces “motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy; impossible in practice because of friction?”
There’s always friction out there, you see. It’s called reality. Or self-interest, if you prefer. Or the desire of individuals to live their lives without interference from others who aren’t interested or able to live their own?
Or maybe just money, in the end. Like Margaret Thatcher once said: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Strange, isn’t it? But that’s the SPD’s problem, too. Happy Birthday anyway! Now just shut up and cut the cake already.
“No other party has been able to last so long, because its core demands have constantly remained relevant in new ways: freedom, social justice and political participation.”
Observing Hermann 
Freiheit, Gleichheit, Bruederlichkeit. I think in your darkest, deepest, democratic corner of your mind, Hermann, you agree. Freedom: you like to speak your mind and not wonder if you will be jailed for it. Equality: You like to be judged by what you say and do, not whose child you are. Brotherhood: I am your sister (well, you know what I mean), and will always stand for people speaking their minds, and I hope you will do the same for me, even if we don’t agree.
“Einigkeit macht stark!” Your birth country right now is the best counterexample. Divided, insecure, and too much air time for loonies. Any country who uses “liberals” as a Schimpfwort needs to examine its priorities.
My mum’s all time favorite politician is Willi Brandt, a social democrat. After the Berlin Wall was built, he put ideologies aside and made sure that families west and east of the wall could visit each other again. That’s good realpolitik, in my opinion. In Korea they still wait for it.
Steinbrueck is no Brandt and Mrs. Merkel covers the German middle ground quite adequately. I just hope that when the loonies on the far right and left come up again in force, the Social Democrats have someone of the caliber of Willy Brandt to show them where sanity is located. Whenever the SPD capitulated, Germany was in deep shit, hence even non-party members celebrate 150 years of survival.
Hi Cosima. Who isn’t for freedom, equality and brotherhood? But have you ever thought about what the order here for the SPD really is? It’s pretty clear to me that it starts (and ends) with equality. And I don’t think this is what any of us REALLY want. I believe that we want and what we should strive for is to see that everyone gets an equal chance – to be free. And I believe that the SPD is the classic (“socialist”) example of zero sum redistribution thinking: Take from the rich and give to the poor and everything will be “equalized.” Nobody benefits from this, of course, except the elitist class doing the redistribution.
As for Willy Brandt, I’m impressed with him, too. Especially his gesture in Warsaw. That was important and genuine, I believe.
But Realpolitik? Sure, it was practical and expedient in the short-term, but what did it really accomplish in the long-term other than prolong the life of the communist regime in East Berlin? This only prolonged the misery of those who had to live behind the wall.
And the SPD today? I know that Totgesagte leben länger and all that, but really. It seems to me like they’re history already, and that for quite some time now.
Hi Hermann, Gleichmacherei is not only the order of the SPD in Germany. Post-war Germany had mostly conservative governments. I think it is safe to say that most of what you criticize was implemented by CDU governments, and what they didn’t implement themselves, they didn’t change. It’s probably cultural. Germany is somewhere in the middle between the Scandinavian countries and Great Britain. The majority of people has less tolerance for people being too rich or too poor than the general public in the US. There is also a higher need for perceived safety, financially as well as crime-wise. There are pros and cons to it, in Germany and in the US. As someone who has grown up in Germany, but has lived abroad for most of adult life, I look at the excesses of the German model with as much bewilderment as you.
I don’t agree with you that Willy Brandt’s discussions with the GDR government prolonged the communist regime there. After Gorbachev came to power and met with Reagan all the puppet regimes in Eastern Europe fell apart and the Wall came down in no time. Honecker’s government was in power because of the support of the Soviet Union. When that was gone, he was gone too. That I could visit my grandma, and she could visit me had no influence on grand scale politics, it was nice nevertheless.
I just saw a documentary on Kissinger. Nixon and he of course were furious with Willy Brandt. Brandt probably stole too much of the lime light. Apparently Nixon called Brandt “lazy and a drinker”. Drinker maybe, lazy was just mean…lol. At least he wasn’t paranoid and fitted every cranny in his offices with wiretaps. Nixon then visited Mao and Breshnew. You could argue that Willy Brandt showed Nixon and Kissinger the way.
The conservatives here aren’t much better, I agree. Everyone is competing with each other to take the wind out of the other party’s sails first. You know, Merkel and co. being greener than Greens and all that, for instance. That’s too bad. It’s getting harder and harder to find a political party that will actually stand up and say something that the electorate doesn’t want to hear. The only “real” party that still gets folks riled up from time to time is the FDP. That tells me that they must be doing something right.
That’s a good point with Nixon, except that something like opening up to the communists could only fly with a real fire-breathing anti-communist. It wouldn’t have been credible otherwise. Could you imagine what people would have thought if somebody like Jimmy Carter or the Pres himself would have done that? Willy Brandt was one of doz guyz, too. That’s why the right couldn’t trust him.
And hey, the Germans didn’t call him Weinbrand-Willy for nothing. As for Kissinger, he really knows the deal: “It’s ninety percent of the politicians that give the other ten percent a bad reputation.”
The problem of the SPD is that not one of their lame career politicians today comes remotely close.
Here’s another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMgJFG90w7w “Ja…Doch… Nein…Ja” priceless!