It’s Election time in Germany and still, the reporter feels strangely untouched. Even last year’s US election had moved him more, had given him more cause to worry and finally to swear and to retreat in a state of depressive denial, even though it only held for less than a day. But this German election – he doesn’t give a damn. His politics are clear, he knows whom he will be voting for, still apathy reigns in his political organ. The campaign was short, no months of slow intensification to a point, one month before everything was over, where one wished that it would be over, soon, now, because the political bullshit and fingerpointing and the sheer amount of manipulation and stupidness was hardly bearable. This time when the election was shortly announced on May 22nd, for weeks and months it was even dubious if the election would take place or if the procedure was so rotten that the President or the Constitutional Court would stop it. So the parties had to improvise and everyone did as he could – and they could now: on the Left a coalition between the old East German post-communists and new West German disconteted lefties merged into a single party to reach the five percent of the votes necessary to gain seats in the parliament; the conservative opposition, unlike three years before, wasted no time and made the party head the candidate for chancellourship, given that they could form a coalition after the election with enough seats to get her elected. All parties tried to accelerate their campaigning and they didn’t have to start at zero for they were already campaigning in the states, the Bundesländer, that were to have local elections.
Still, there was hardly a point made in the campaigns. There were modest shifts in the polls, reflecting some changes in the campaigns and debates that were fought. Additionaly, people began to notice that this was a big election, a real one – you couldn’t vote against the central-left Government just to make a point about your disappointment, this time you had to vote for someone. And many people were quick to condemn the changes the government had forced them into, but an actual vote for the Conservatives on a national level for them would be like turning up the radiator in protest of a too hot summer, while the new far-left party would only take away votes from the government, also helping the conservatives. Therefore, at this moment the election is not settled, although it is pretty clear that the old government won’t gain the majority of votes it needs to continue its reign.
The reporter feels untouched by this. The campaign was short and only in parts intensive. To him it looked as if no party had come around to make a point about anything worth fighting about. There were small issues in the party programmes people argued about and they confirmed the reporter to vote like he did for years. But there was no feeling of change or hope he could feel. For some reason every new soundbite sounded just like that. With no effort he could think of the reporter was able to pretend to see any substance in any of them. Here some Euros for that group, there some Euros taken from those people. Politics would go on just like before. New figures would arrive on the scene and all the politicians would bumble on from topic to topic, no plan, no vision, hardly a guess of what would change things for good. Everything would just go on. Maybe that was what the nation needed, a continuation of the reforms the government has started in the last years and which had cost them the people’s approval, much more than the still rising unemployment had done. But if the conservatives came to power and if they proved to be as bad as some people put them and finally split the Country, rich against poor, companies against workers against unemployed – let it be so. The country is trapped in its own depression and fear of changes. Make it worse, let’s start a riot! Everything is better than depression. This is a country that is totally incompatible to ‘happy goes lucky’. Either the country changes or the conservatives falter or there will be unrests, panic, a strong opposition, within and without the parliament. Everything’s better than the current depression.
But let there be no doubt. Germans are no good when it comes to rioting or panic. From his past experiences the reporter predicts the following: the christian-conservatives and the conservative-liberals will gain enough votes to build a government and make Merkel chancellour. They will start some changes that will give birth to some massive protests from the still strong worker unions with the support of other left groups. But it won’t be very spectacular. The conservatives will begin to lose states to the left again and then will ease themselves with what they have already done, stopping there and for the rest of their term they will mostly pretend to follow a vision and deal in a pragmatic way with the small challenges that will arrive. Not so much will change. Ironically, at this point the future of the conservatives will depend on how well the already completed legislature will work – if the changes the central-left government has put into action will work, we’ll see a slight improvement in jobs and finances, and that may carry the conservatives even through the next election.
On the other hand, if the big parties will be forced to enter a Grand Coalition because their alliances with smaller parties won’t gain enough seats, then some interesting times may follow, within and without the parliament. Maybe people would learn something about their power and the impotence of politicians. Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe the politicians of a grand coalition, even when their parties included some 75 percent of the popular vote, would feel their own impotence or they would get their acts together and start acting like the country meant something for them.
Whatever, the reporter puts his hopes, against his expectations, in a grand coalition. When it’ll work, it’ll be good. When it won’t work, it will be an interesting time. The country needs some reaffirmation of its own values and the forces that lie sedated beneath the surface. Let’s awake those forces and hope they turn out to be good ones. Maybe they’re not half as good as the reporter hopes in his illusional mind, but even if they're demons, you can’t fight demons by taking sedatives and pretend to yourself you live a life.
Still, there was hardly a point made in the campaigns. There were modest shifts in the polls, reflecting some changes in the campaigns and debates that were fought. Additionaly, people began to notice that this was a big election, a real one – you couldn’t vote against the central-left Government just to make a point about your disappointment, this time you had to vote for someone. And many people were quick to condemn the changes the government had forced them into, but an actual vote for the Conservatives on a national level for them would be like turning up the radiator in protest of a too hot summer, while the new far-left party would only take away votes from the government, also helping the conservatives. Therefore, at this moment the election is not settled, although it is pretty clear that the old government won’t gain the majority of votes it needs to continue its reign.
The reporter feels untouched by this. The campaign was short and only in parts intensive. To him it looked as if no party had come around to make a point about anything worth fighting about. There were small issues in the party programmes people argued about and they confirmed the reporter to vote like he did for years. But there was no feeling of change or hope he could feel. For some reason every new soundbite sounded just like that. With no effort he could think of the reporter was able to pretend to see any substance in any of them. Here some Euros for that group, there some Euros taken from those people. Politics would go on just like before. New figures would arrive on the scene and all the politicians would bumble on from topic to topic, no plan, no vision, hardly a guess of what would change things for good. Everything would just go on. Maybe that was what the nation needed, a continuation of the reforms the government has started in the last years and which had cost them the people’s approval, much more than the still rising unemployment had done. But if the conservatives came to power and if they proved to be as bad as some people put them and finally split the Country, rich against poor, companies against workers against unemployed – let it be so. The country is trapped in its own depression and fear of changes. Make it worse, let’s start a riot! Everything is better than depression. This is a country that is totally incompatible to ‘happy goes lucky’. Either the country changes or the conservatives falter or there will be unrests, panic, a strong opposition, within and without the parliament. Everything’s better than the current depression.
But let there be no doubt. Germans are no good when it comes to rioting or panic. From his past experiences the reporter predicts the following: the christian-conservatives and the conservative-liberals will gain enough votes to build a government and make Merkel chancellour. They will start some changes that will give birth to some massive protests from the still strong worker unions with the support of other left groups. But it won’t be very spectacular. The conservatives will begin to lose states to the left again and then will ease themselves with what they have already done, stopping there and for the rest of their term they will mostly pretend to follow a vision and deal in a pragmatic way with the small challenges that will arrive. Not so much will change. Ironically, at this point the future of the conservatives will depend on how well the already completed legislature will work – if the changes the central-left government has put into action will work, we’ll see a slight improvement in jobs and finances, and that may carry the conservatives even through the next election.
On the other hand, if the big parties will be forced to enter a Grand Coalition because their alliances with smaller parties won’t gain enough seats, then some interesting times may follow, within and without the parliament. Maybe people would learn something about their power and the impotence of politicians. Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe the politicians of a grand coalition, even when their parties included some 75 percent of the popular vote, would feel their own impotence or they would get their acts together and start acting like the country meant something for them.
Whatever, the reporter puts his hopes, against his expectations, in a grand coalition. When it’ll work, it’ll be good. When it won’t work, it will be an interesting time. The country needs some reaffirmation of its own values and the forces that lie sedated beneath the surface. Let’s awake those forces and hope they turn out to be good ones. Maybe they’re not half as good as the reporter hopes in his illusional mind, but even if they're demons, you can’t fight demons by taking sedatives and pretend to yourself you live a life.
