Champions of Ruin

[blindmapmaker]

In an astonishing move the good voters of our nations voted in a conservative-liberal government despite the current crisis that has been precipitated by those very same elements in the US. One might call this an unusual case of surrogate Stockholm Syndrome, but I rather stick to the old adage from the last Weimar elections: "Nur die allerdümmsten Kälber wählen ihre Metzger selber" (Only the stupidest calves vote for their own butchers). It is, indeed, surprising that the transparent tactic of promising lower taxes (for the uppermost five percentiles of the income bracket) and a forceful election campaign sponsored by big business and the nuclear lobby have led more people to vote for the FDP than will ever profit from their policies.

It was perhaps a bad omen when I received my personal copy of Forgotten Realms: Champions of Ruin on the day of the election, but I can't help to quote the back-cover, paraphrasing only so slightly: "When opportunities arise, malevolent groups and nefarious individuals emerge from the shadows to make their infamous marks on the land." Does this ring a bell?

Some of these marks we'll be looking forward to:

• dismantling of ever larger parts of our social system until it resembles the motto from Bismark's times: "To little to live on, to much to die on."
• construction of new nuclear power plants that cost the tax payer billions in subventions and disposal while making big bucks for FDP sponsors and supporters in the industry
• discontinuation of subventions for small entrepeneurs in the green energy business and other environmental ventures (it sucks to have no lobby)
• freeing the banking and brokerage business from the last restrictions meant to curb speculation unhealthy for the national and world--wide economic system
• decreasing public education funding to prevent everybody from the poorer strata who is not exceptionally bright to break into the upper reaches of the society

I briefly thought about ending this on an uplifting note concerning Schäuble's paranoia and how the FDP victory might make even more restrictions on privacy a bit less likely, but in the end I decided it made little difference whether Schäuble and his cronies or google and other corporate gangsters read our mails. Enjoy this cartoon instead:

http://www.taz.de/digitaz/.tom/tomdestages?day=2009/09/28