Well maybe not as disguised, but my hope is that it will improve democracy in Germany in the long run. I personally dislike Angela Merkel, I disagree with her response to the Euro crisis, to syria, her overall taciturn approach, and I have serious problems with a party that calls itself christian (or muslim, or jew, mormon or buddhist for that matter), but the options were far worse.
Being honest though, she does have strengths and her victory is the least worse scenario for Germany and Europe. Furthermore, now she has the political capital to presse for more union in the EU, and to pushe for reforms within Germany, hopefuly also the courage. But I disgress.
What I really wanted to talk about is the overwhelming defeat of the FDP and their failure to overcome the 5% threshhold, and the low numbers for the greens. In the past years we've seen a decline in the political debate as yellow (FDP) shifted towards black (CDU) and green towards red (SPD). Politics have been done by opinion polls as a consequence of the proportional representation system, leading to a loss of diferentiation between parties.
As the rise of the AfD proves though, small parties are like specialty products and cater to a specific niche of society. By accomodating or emulating the big parties they've suffered a major loss. The AfD succeeded precisely because the brought a different message, albeit disconnected from the reality of the EU and Germany, and frankly rather shortsighted, but different nonetheless.
If the green and FDP learn something, then it should be to return to their origins. For the FDP my hope is that it returns to embracing the real liberal values rather than just supporting tax reduction. They should be a voice for the separation of church and state (still not quite clearly done in Germany), liberalizing the service industry and the job market, improving conditions for educated ex-patriates, promoting civil rights and so on.
The greens should remember that the required technology for sustainable energy/food/anything depends on innovation, which cannot happen if you push companies to do research elsewhere, and drive away the profesionals by raising taxes. They should remember green is not red.
So let's hope both parties draw the right conclusions from their defeats instead of just launching a witch hunt (although Mr. Trittin seriously needs to go, supporting the legalization of sexual relations with minors is not something that can be or should be forgiven). If they do, then the political debate in Germany will be enriched and democracy will improve. That's my hope.
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