If only...
...the country had voted like my sub-district in Mannheim. I can see the headlines: "Clear mandate for the left to form new government." "Victorious party leaders agree on minimum wages, citizen's insurance and clean energy." "Red-green narrowly clears absolute majority, but promises to work with the Left Party." "Steinbrück vows not to repeat the mistakes of the Schröder administration." Well, by last night at six this had turned into alternate history.
It's really of surprising that with a poverty rate slowly creeping up towards the 20% mark so many people felt the need to vote for the Chancellor that was responsible for a large part of this economic quagmire. And let's not forget that everybody who earns 800 bucks before tax is no longer counted among the poor. The host of people earning five bucks an hour on a two-years-less-a-day contract aren't unemployed either. Crazy country we got there.
If there's any ray of hope, it's the fact that the FDP didn't make it to the Bundestag (though apparently they squeezed into in the Hessian Landtag at the eleventh hour). I would like to think that people who aren't exceptionally well-off are finally realising that this party doesn't care about you unless you make more than 80,000 a year. Yet, the success of the batshit-crazy anti-european Alternative für Deutschland makes me think otherwise. Demagoguery just changed seats from the party that promised everybody could become rich by self-employment and cutting worker's benefits to the party that blames other countries for our home-made problems. Thankfully, they didn't get into parliament anywhere and with a bit of luck those wanna-be Europe-busters won't be around in four years. Don't get me wrong, I think there's lots of wrong with the way the Union is run, but despite the AfD protestations their thrust is clearly against the European project as a whole and not against some of its obvious failings.
What now, black cow? Merkel will probably flail around for allies for a couple of weeks, focusing their efforts on the SPD which has been proven to be easily seduced by the promise of power. Unless the blacks are prepared to offer a lot of ground, I can't imagine the reds to give in this time, though. The aftermath of the last grand coalition was an unmitigated disaster for the SPD and a repeat would likely be worse. That basically leaves the greens and again I can't see how that would benefit the smaller party in any way, except maybe in paving the way to a black-green coalition in a couple of states (Hesse and Baden-Württemberg seem most likely). The only other option seems to be a red-red-green coalition and before anybody says that this would be contrary to the will of the people, let's not forget that less than 42% voted for Merkel and many of those who voted for the "Other" parties voted actively against her (I'd really like to see the numbers for the Marxist-Leninist Party, but I doubt they made much headway). Such a coalition would be fragile, but there's a good chance it could actually get something done. There are only two black(-yellow) Länder governments left to effectively block such a left policy. Let's hope for the best.
Just to add another drop of vermooth: It looks like were going to get an absolutely wasteful Bundesgartenschau in Mannheim by the slightest ever majority (and abysmal voter turnout). Go, over-indebted poor Mannheim!
It's really of surprising that with a poverty rate slowly creeping up towards the 20% mark so many people felt the need to vote for the Chancellor that was responsible for a large part of this economic quagmire. And let's not forget that everybody who earns 800 bucks before tax is no longer counted among the poor. The host of people earning five bucks an hour on a two-years-less-a-day contract aren't unemployed either. Crazy country we got there.
If there's any ray of hope, it's the fact that the FDP didn't make it to the Bundestag (though apparently they squeezed into in the Hessian Landtag at the eleventh hour). I would like to think that people who aren't exceptionally well-off are finally realising that this party doesn't care about you unless you make more than 80,000 a year. Yet, the success of the batshit-crazy anti-european Alternative für Deutschland makes me think otherwise. Demagoguery just changed seats from the party that promised everybody could become rich by self-employment and cutting worker's benefits to the party that blames other countries for our home-made problems. Thankfully, they didn't get into parliament anywhere and with a bit of luck those wanna-be Europe-busters won't be around in four years. Don't get me wrong, I think there's lots of wrong with the way the Union is run, but despite the AfD protestations their thrust is clearly against the European project as a whole and not against some of its obvious failings.
What now, black cow? Merkel will probably flail around for allies for a couple of weeks, focusing their efforts on the SPD which has been proven to be easily seduced by the promise of power. Unless the blacks are prepared to offer a lot of ground, I can't imagine the reds to give in this time, though. The aftermath of the last grand coalition was an unmitigated disaster for the SPD and a repeat would likely be worse. That basically leaves the greens and again I can't see how that would benefit the smaller party in any way, except maybe in paving the way to a black-green coalition in a couple of states (Hesse and Baden-Württemberg seem most likely). The only other option seems to be a red-red-green coalition and before anybody says that this would be contrary to the will of the people, let's not forget that less than 42% voted for Merkel and many of those who voted for the "Other" parties voted actively against her (I'd really like to see the numbers for the Marxist-Leninist Party, but I doubt they made much headway). Such a coalition would be fragile, but there's a good chance it could actually get something done. There are only two black(-yellow) Länder governments left to effectively block such a left policy. Let's hope for the best.
Just to add another drop of vermooth: It looks like were going to get an absolutely wasteful Bundesgartenschau in Mannheim by the slightest ever majority (and abysmal voter turnout). Go, over-indebted poor Mannheim!