Democracy: It Ain’t Much

But it’s still better than a Nazi dictatorship and a totalitarian communist regime. I guess.

Study: Germans more satisfied with democracy as a form of government – Public satisfaction with democracy in Germany has risen over the past two years, while in some cases extreme right-wing attitudes have declined significantly. At the same time, hatred of migrants, women, Muslims and other groups in Germany has increased and become widespread. In addition, stronger desires for authority can be observed in the wake of the pandemic. These are key findings of the representative “Leipzig Authoritarianism Study.”

German Of The Day: Vertrauensfrage

That means a question of trust – or a vote of confidence.

Happy German Unification Day or something.

Democracy thrives on trust. But especially in eastern Germany, this trust is dwindling – in politics, in the state. Why?

And it’s better in western Germany? Not really.

Only 39 percent of East Germans are satisfied with democracy as it functions in Germany. In the west, the figure is 59 percent. In the east, only about 32 percent believe that politicians care about the good of the country. In the west, the figure is 42 percent.

Repeat An Election?

What do they mean by repeating an election? I thought that once you get the results you want it’s a done deal. Repeating an election due to election day glitches simply isn’t possible. Not in my country it isn’t.

Judge: Berlin will likely need to repeat its 2021 election – The president of the Berlin Constitutional Court says Germany’s capital will likely need to repeat its 2021 state and district elections due to severe election day glitches.

Long lines formed outside many polling stations in Berlin that day as voters struggled with extra ballot papers. Some polling stations ran out of ballot papers during the day and others received ones for the wrong district, leading to a large number of invalidated ballots. Another issue was the election was supposed to end at 6 p.m., but voters waiting in line at that time were allowed to cast their ballots.

Would You Place The Largest Opposition Party In Your Country Under Domestic Surveillance?

Would you have the FBI spy on, say, the Democrats? Yeah, I would too. But that’s not the point. The point is, first of all, that this guy down here looks really, really mean.

AfD

The second and more important point is that by placing the largest opposition party in your country under domestic surveillance you are placing a very large percentage of your electorate under suspicion of being, in this case, Nazis. You can do that here in Germany. Coming to your country soon too?

Germany Places Right-Wing Opposition Party Under Domestic Surveillance – Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has put the country’s largest opposition party under surveillance as a potential threat to the country’s constitution, according to public (they mean state TV) broadcaster ARD and other media outlets. The move affects dozens of lawmakers who are in the right-wing Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.

I can’t shake the feeling that the other political parties – and they are all on the same sheet of music here – don’t welcome competition from other political parties. Especially from those who have already stolen a considerable number of your voters.

“Angela Merkel’s government is trying to stigmatize us and to really put us in the Nazi corner.”

German Social Democrats See German Democracy Under Attack

That’s odd. It looks more like peaceful protestors are currently the ones under attack to me.

Berlin

Saskia Esken, Social Democratic Party co-leader, on Monday renewed calls from her SPD that the federal parliament adopt a law promoting democracy to help foil what she said was a far-right in Germany intent on eroding society.

“We are currently experiencing how right-wing extremists openly attack our democracy.”

German Of The Day: Querdenker

That means “unconventional” thinkers. Or mavericks. Or contrarians, if you prefer.

Querdenker

These include, for instance, the 20,000 protestors in Leipzig who refuse to accept the German government’s Corona party line and are energetically expressing their growing dissatisfaction with the latest lockdown “light.”

“Corona party” (Corona party line) has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Nach dem „Querdenker“-Chaos brannten Barrikaden.

Berlin Cancels Protest By Protestors Who “Question Democracy”

By, well, cancelling Democracy itself.

Ban

Berlin bans large weekend protests against coronavirus restrictions, citing health grounds – The city government of Berlin has called off several planned weekend protests, the largest of which on Saturday expected to draw 20,000 people or more. The organizers plan to challenge the move in court.

Anyone who does not conform to the red-redder-green party line is immediately labeled a right-wing extremist. Works every time.

China Number One For Germany

And Taiwan is not even number wan. Nor is the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I suppose.

Taiwan

The German Foreign Ministry doesn’t want to possibly offend the Communist rulers in Beijing. This is why they must discriminate. One must discriminate to properly ingratiate.

Taiwan accuses Germany of discrimination after flag removal – The German Foreign Ministry has removed the Taiwanese flag from its website where it describes bilateral relations. Taiwan has expressed its displeasure, citing how other territorial flags remain.

“We have a one-China policy. We do not have diplomatic relations with?Taiwan and?Taiwan?is not a country we recognize.”

You’ll Be Pleading A Long Time, Joshua

And then all you’ll get will be some pious platitudes.

Hong Kong

China can do no wrong in German eyes – with all those dollar/euro signs in there.

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong pleads for Germany’s support – Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has called on Germany to intervene over a controversial new security law imposed by China. Police arrested hundreds after the law went into effect earlier this week.

“I ask the German government: Look at what is happening in Hong Kong and call it by its name.”

Just Like In The Good Old USA

Opinion: Germans rally behind Merkel amid coronavirus crisis.

Corona

A recent poll shows that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have seen a spike in popularity as Germany battles the coronavirus pandemic. This illustrates that our democracy is stable, says DW’s Jens Thurau.

It’s the same in the US, right? Everyone in America rallies behind the President of the United States amid the coronvirus crisis there, don’t they?  It’s just what one does. Citizens forget party politics, petty personal hysterics and even the Trump Derangement Syndrome ITSELF at times of great need like these to support their government and solve a real problem. That’s just what Americans do. And that’s what’s happening in America right now, right? Right.

By the way, the same Germans who supposedly rally behind Frau Merkel still jump at every opportunity they can get – today – to continue bashing Donald Trump with as much vehemence as they can muster. So much for today’s Sunday School sermon, Deutsche Welle.