Germany held the first two of three important state elections over the weekend. And the results were striking. Leading up to the elections polls had the current opposition party in the Bundestag, Alternative for Germany (AfD), neck and neck with the ruling parties in both Saxony and Brandenburg.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition was battered by the results but not beaten. In Brandenburg, her partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), beat AfD by 5 points, 26.3% to 23.5%, while in Saxony Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) held onto 32% of the vote while AfD took 27.5%.
Germany (Saxony), prelim. final results:
CDU-EPP: 32% (-7)
AfD-ID: 28% (+18)
LINKE-LEFT: 10% (-9)
GRÜNE-G/EFA: 9% (+3)
SPD-S&D: 8% (-4)
——
FDP-RE: 5%
FW-RE: 3% (+1)
TIERS-LEFT: 2% (+1)
PARTEI-NI: 2% (+1)+/- vs. 2014 election
Note: Parties below 1% are excluded#ltwsn19 pic.twitter.com/LycmnS7HLV
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 1, 2019
Both of these results represent more than a doubling of support for AfD in these states and bodes very well for a party that is was only formed in 2013.
And both of these results portend very well for the election in Thuringia at the end of October as well as the next general election in 2021. Against the State: An ... Best Price: $5.02 Buy New $5.52 (as of 11:35 UTC - Details)
So while AfD failed to win either Saxony or Brandenburg and both states will put together cartel-style governments standing for nothing, it wasn’t going to rule if they had anyway.
None of the other parties would form a coalition with them on principle and pathetic virtue signaling. And that leaves AfD’s hands clean for the future.
The preliminary seat projections in Saxony have the CDU having to partner with at least two other parties to form a government which excludes AfD.
Being the official opposition party in the Bundestag and having strong but neutered representation in these important states puts AfD exactly where it needs to be on the eve of a political and financial crisis in Europe, especially as Germany slides further into recession.
It further highlights the undemocratic means by which people like Merkel hold onto power. For a clear example of that, simply cross the Alps to Italy.
It is those in power that get the blame, and rightly so, for economic downturns and social upheaval. They’ve had the gavel and the bully pulpit and they failed to use them wisely to govern with an eye ahead on the real problems rather than their pet agendas.
In Merkel’s case that is further EU integration. She’s had sincere struggles passing on power within the CDU as she tries to exit the scene. So have the SPD.
It’s clear that both the CDU and the SPD have future leadership vacuums that will not be able to 1) hold their parties together and 2) navigate what will be the most tumultuous period of German history since the end of World War II.
So, today, if I’m Drs. Jorge Meuthen or Alice Weidel, the leadership of AfD, I’m ecstatic at the vote totals, which were in line with projections, but I’m even happier not to be in charge when the worst of the financial crisis hits the European Union next year.
Being the opposition when the world comes crashing down around your political opponents is the best position to be in.
And AfD are that today. Slowly, they are rebranding themselves as the solution for all of Germany. It’s a slower process than in, say, Italy, where the cultural identity and its relationship to political ideologies are less fraught with guilt.
Speaking of Italy. With last week’s coup, Matteo Salvini and The League are in now in the same position in Italy. Having won the battle to push Salvini out of government the Brussels’ loyal technocrats and weak-willed reformers in Five Star Movement will now bear the full wrath of the Italian people as their sell out occurs and the incipient financial crisis engulfs them.
Many Germans today are loathe to identify with anything seen as fascist. And this has hampered the growth of AfD as the wholly subservient German press has done nothing but hound them as Neo-Nazis and the rest.
But it isn’t working. Here’s the demographic breakdown of the Saxony vote.
Germany (Saxony regional election): Green GRÜNE-G/EFA; strong among young people, right-wing AfD (ID) strong among middle-aged people and CDU (EPP) strong among older generations. #ltwsn19 #ltwsachsen #Sachsenwahl pic.twitter.com/76PsT6xxKh
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 1, 2019
Note even EuropeElects can’t write a tweet without lying for the establishment. The Greens are not the most popular with young people, AfD is (black bars). In fact, this chart right here is what will have Merkel shaking uncontrollably this morning.
The post-WWII social-democratic state is under severe attack at a generational level and it won’t change. There has been a break in the generational identity along party lines across most of Europe. The Brexit Party’s vote in the U.K. in May is a prime example of that. A party five weeks old beat parties entrenched at the top of British politics for more than a century. Basic Economics Best Price: $23.50 Buy New $28.97 (as of 11:50 UTC - Details)
FYI, the same dynamic is occurring in Greece with Golden Dawn. If not for the patently absurd ballot access laws here in the U.S. we would see a similar shift away from the Repuglicans and Demoncrats.
German politics will not change tomorrow with these results. But they will change. Be it in 2021 or later.
The trend is in motion. The older generation, the Baby Boomers, have failed to make their case to the younger ones. They have lost the moral legitimacy to rule and the thread of history.
They have simply grasped onto the reins of power and will hold on to the bitter end because their lack of humanity, being post-modernist, secular humanist Marxist scum, tells them to.
The best way to beat them is to hand them the rope they so willingly grasp for while drowning and let them tie it around their own neck. They created the mess that’s in motion.
They should be in power when it the bills come due.
Reprinted with permission from Gold Goats ‘n Guns.