Recent demographic changes in partisan ID in the US, and meandering Sunday morning thoughts
Starting in 2009, there was an abrupt shift in the party ID of white people who didn’t graduate from college - which is most white people. Suddenly non-college whites broke decisively for Republicans. It seems, at first, the only factor that makes sense in explaining this shift, is that the US had finally elected a black President. For whatever
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Even if trying to keep up to pretend that there's a democratic system active, they all lack new faces for representing this forcefully, also they always tend to come up with those faces they came with for the election for the last 30 to 40 years. And those faces - the turning to the differing far right movements in the population are also partly a result from it -, the voting and non-voting people strongly give the sign about that they don't want them anymore 'cause all the do is making the situation for normal citizens worse and worse while rich people become able to do whatever they want and never get punished.
The last election here also was strongly characterized by that. The CDU has no replacement for Merkel, even though parts of the party and their Bavarian sister party CSU came to strongly disagree with her policy about the refugees. Last legislative period, in the meantime, they even openly speculated in leading media about a possible "in case of need"-chancellor Schäuble, although he's much older than her and could drop dead anytime from natural causes, and although he's not really one of the people that the rest of the citzens would probably like to see in that position.
That action, you can say, was a shot for a warning there from her own political circles.
But, going down on that for minute, it already showed the problem openly that currently the CDU has nobody else to present as possible chancellor, should Merkel once decide for herself she wants to leave of the voter takes that into his own hand.
Getting the current administration together was also (still) characterized by that. It was a literal horse trade, an action born from despair to avoid a revote.
It took about half a year to get this together and sounding out two variations of party coalitions, all the while news about both always sounded like "things could fail anytime". While, for the first variation with the FDP, which returned to the Bundestag for this term, indeed DID fail.
Well, in the new administration now they put a lot of new names in the front row for ministeries, the first scratch on the already can be found among the people which were allowed to be send from the Social Democracts SPD, which had an obesession with filling half of their ministries they could take with women, not who would be the best to do the business there.
All in all, if you look at the names now selected, those who were in the cainbet before as well as those which came in newly, you can't help but calling it a horrow show cabinet that even Freddy Krueger gets nightmares from. Quite a few figures which you don't get rid of the impression about they only put them there because they don't expect to last this administration for its full 4 years. People which are totally unfit for the job and which already would have urgently had to be replaced after the end of the last term when they were already present in this one.
In fact, what they did here is: Changing names, to give it a new paint job, but in general, if you take a look behind the curtain, besides quite a few of them being unfit for the job, if you see what policies they represented before or which ideological circles they reside in, then you know it's an administration that practices "going on with the previous strategy".
Especially that comes up if you regard the musical chairs game that also took place in the front row of the SPD during the course of all of this. Different policies to fight for? No, not the slightest bit. Still that party that will going to kick workers ass (and everyone elses' too) and gets wondering why their election results get worse and worse each time...
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Merkel could only win her position in that process because there's nobody in her own party to be put there instead, at least not yet, and what the SPD came up with as a candidate for a chancellor, besides being a person picked out of despair also, it was literally a joke which was determined to fail.
Just like the last two elections.
Even if nobody liked to see her in that position anymore, she could win that match because there was no serious competition.
And that's what the next 4 years are going to be characterized with too. If they make it to fulfill those 4 years, mind you...
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