I hear this so often. Our politicians had no real personalities. Chancellors like Willy Brandt, Adenauer or Helmut Schmidt. These people had courage. They stood for something. They had authoritiy. They were intellectuals, had charisms everything the current politicians lack.
First of all, I am not a fan of Friedrich Merz. And an issue with my politicial analysis of politicians is that I am not critical enough. I think Merz does a good job in dealing with Trump. His foreign policy is the sole policy decision I like from Merz. In this instance he is better than Scholz. Many pundits called Scholz the Scholzomat. It implies that he acted like a robot/machines without showing emotions. His communication style was a total disaster. He wasn't equipped to deal with someone like Trump. He neglected Germany's relation to France. Many in my country and I thought Scholz could be a potential successful successor of Merkel. He wasn't a good one. There is a weird anecdote about the German election campaign of 2021. Scholz is member of the Socialdemocratcs. But his opponent was Armin Laschet (CDU -conservatives). In German his name sounds similar to being slack/limp-wristed. He was the favorite to win the election. But one moment changed his whole campaign. It was summer of 2021. There was the "Laschet lacht" gate. Laschet was laughing. He also comes from a region where carneval is very popular, he also likes carneval. He was laughing when he visited the victims of a natural disaster. The photo went mega viral. It ended his chances more or less. The German people didn't know him very well to that time. It was the anchoring effect. Everyone associated him from now on with being a not serious candidate. This incident might have changed German history.
In terms of policies Scholz was a pretty good chancellor for me. He initiated a positive welfare reform. Which is now destroyed by Merz. But why am I telling this Laschet story?
I think this laughing incident wasn't a real sign of personal weakness. There were rumors it was black humor and his way to cope with it. And honestly I believe this. This came out after the election. It is not confirmed though. I think they thought it could backfire even more if they used this as an excuse. By the way the best thing about election campaigns in Germany is that the budgets are regulated. The biggest party has like 36 million euros as budget. It not such a waste of money like in the US where it is simply corruption at this point.
Many politicial analysts shred Angela Merkel. She was responsible for the rise of the AfD with her liberal refugees welcome policy. With her Euro (currency) policies. On the left they say she neglected the topic climate change. And her friendliness and naivity towards Russia is criticized a lot. Some conservative commentators enjoy to point out that Trump has warned us about energy dependence of Russia. Even though, Trump is extremely unpopular in Germany. There was a time I thought Merkel did a somewhat job. When she was in office many thought that. But retrospectively history will judge her in a negative way probably. She currently tries to defend her legacy. She was extremely smart. But she was very risk averse and used assymetrical demobilisation as trick to gain voters. She took popular policies of other parties and made it her own. Then the voters of the Socialdemocrats for example were not that motivated to vote at election day because they said well Merkel policies are somewhat okay. And the economy is doing well. I think Merkel had a very strong personality. I think the same is true for her friend Obama. Obama was a big disappointment though. He also had this charisma. But he let people down when he promised real change. Maybe the people from the Rust belt felt disregarded by elites like him and this fueled their resentment against the establishment. Obama was the first black president Merkel was the first female chancellor of Germany. Trump feels resentment for Obama and wants revenge. And Merz is an old enemy of Merkel and had a feud with her. This is why Trump likes him so much.
I think all of that is a little bit anecdotal evidence. I think charisma is more important in the US if you are a politician. Politics has to be a show. In contrast the people like Scholz because he sounded like a technocrat. Someone who is good at managing the country without much drama.
I can see where the people are coming from when they say the elites of the past were better. And I think Merz and Scholz did not do a good job. But also a Schmidt and Brandt would have big issues to handle foreign affairs. Germany is in a difficult spot. The economy is under pressure. The far right is on the rise. Polarization is fueled by internet companies. There are facts like path-dependence. Germany made itself vulnerable by not investing in the military. But at least in my country we did not expect Russia to threaten us. We were all naive with Francis Fukuyama's end of history. There were a few voices that raised concern and now they win prizes for that. But Germany was somewhat well prepared for covid. Better than other nations. We live in a era of multiple crises at the same time. And who knows which crisis come next. We seemingly have to prepare for the worst. Currently, many fear Russia will attack us. German and baltic intelligence services are warning. I mean at least we have no Putin in power in Germany. But with the AfD we could get a Trump like figure.
My main conclusion is: I think Germany has better elites than the US. Probably better elites than the ones in UK too. But in Scandinavia the elites are probably the best. Why is that so? I think this has to do with the idiosyncracies of our cultures. Which values are important. How much money and heritage determines the power dynamics. There is also a lot of corruption in Germany. But we don't come close to the US yet. In the US I think normative questions of equality are not that important. There is the illusion everyone can make it. Everyone can become a billionaire. The American fairy tale. Sorry for being cynical. I think this is a myth. I think overall the American system is better in creating wealth and economic growth. Europeans are compared to the US horrible at implementing business cases for innovative technologies. Or the lack of venture capital is a real problem. The libertarian business mentality is so much stronger in the US. And libertarian Germans envy that. I think the world would be way poorer without the US. We are dependent on the US economy, its innovation and military strength. But I feel sorry for the bottom 30% of the US society. These people and many people here in this forum are fucked beyond repair.
The elites in Scandinavia are not better because there are better people on average. I think they just found the best balance to regulate capitalism. The American ethos is like capitalism on steroids. This can led to the accumulation of extreme wealth. But in the hand of only a few people. I understand if a few people have really good business ideas they can find ways to multiply the money. But trickling down isn't working. Billionaires buy influence in politiics. The policies are favoring only the top 1%. The average citizen becomes cynical and starts to hate democracy. Billionaires use this cynicm and hatred for democracy when they buy media empires and help people into office who promise to fight for the average American while tax cuts for the rich are their main goals. It is insane. The incentive structures are skewed also in Germany. We adapt the American polarization increasingly but in the US politics is even more insane...
First of all, I am not a fan of Friedrich Merz. And an issue with my politicial analysis of politicians is that I am not critical enough. I think Merz does a good job in dealing with Trump. His foreign policy is the sole policy decision I like from Merz. In this instance he is better than Scholz. Many pundits called Scholz the Scholzomat. It implies that he acted like a robot/machines without showing emotions. His communication style was a total disaster. He wasn't equipped to deal with someone like Trump. He neglected Germany's relation to France. Many in my country and I thought Scholz could be a potential successful successor of Merkel. He wasn't a good one. There is a weird anecdote about the German election campaign of 2021. Scholz is member of the Socialdemocratcs. But his opponent was Armin Laschet (CDU -conservatives). In German his name sounds similar to being slack/limp-wristed. He was the favorite to win the election. But one moment changed his whole campaign. It was summer of 2021. There was the "Laschet lacht" gate. Laschet was laughing. He also comes from a region where carneval is very popular, he also likes carneval. He was laughing when he visited the victims of a natural disaster. The photo went mega viral. It ended his chances more or less. The German people didn't know him very well to that time. It was the anchoring effect. Everyone associated him from now on with being a not serious candidate. This incident might have changed German history.
In terms of policies Scholz was a pretty good chancellor for me. He initiated a positive welfare reform. Which is now destroyed by Merz. But why am I telling this Laschet story?
I think this laughing incident wasn't a real sign of personal weakness. There were rumors it was black humor and his way to cope with it. And honestly I believe this. This came out after the election. It is not confirmed though. I think they thought it could backfire even more if they used this as an excuse. By the way the best thing about election campaigns in Germany is that the budgets are regulated. The biggest party has like 36 million euros as budget. It not such a waste of money like in the US where it is simply corruption at this point.
Many politicial analysts shred Angela Merkel. She was responsible for the rise of the AfD with her liberal refugees welcome policy. With her Euro (currency) policies. On the left they say she neglected the topic climate change. And her friendliness and naivity towards Russia is criticized a lot. Some conservative commentators enjoy to point out that Trump has warned us about energy dependence of Russia. Even though, Trump is extremely unpopular in Germany. There was a time I thought Merkel did a somewhat job. When she was in office many thought that. But retrospectively history will judge her in a negative way probably. She currently tries to defend her legacy. She was extremely smart. But she was very risk averse and used assymetrical demobilisation as trick to gain voters. She took popular policies of other parties and made it her own. Then the voters of the Socialdemocrats for example were not that motivated to vote at election day because they said well Merkel policies are somewhat okay. And the economy is doing well. I think Merkel had a very strong personality. I think the same is true for her friend Obama. Obama was a big disappointment though. He also had this charisma. But he let people down when he promised real change. Maybe the people from the Rust belt felt disregarded by elites like him and this fueled their resentment against the establishment. Obama was the first black president Merkel was the first female chancellor of Germany. Trump feels resentment for Obama and wants revenge. And Merz is an old enemy of Merkel and had a feud with her. This is why Trump likes him so much.
I think all of that is a little bit anecdotal evidence. I think charisma is more important in the US if you are a politician. Politics has to be a show. In contrast the people like Scholz because he sounded like a technocrat. Someone who is good at managing the country without much drama.
I can see where the people are coming from when they say the elites of the past were better. And I think Merz and Scholz did not do a good job. But also a Schmidt and Brandt would have big issues to handle foreign affairs. Germany is in a difficult spot. The economy is under pressure. The far right is on the rise. Polarization is fueled by internet companies. There are facts like path-dependence. Germany made itself vulnerable by not investing in the military. But at least in my country we did not expect Russia to threaten us. We were all naive with Francis Fukuyama's end of history. There were a few voices that raised concern and now they win prizes for that. But Germany was somewhat well prepared for covid. Better than other nations. We live in a era of multiple crises at the same time. And who knows which crisis come next. We seemingly have to prepare for the worst. Currently, many fear Russia will attack us. German and baltic intelligence services are warning. I mean at least we have no Putin in power in Germany. But with the AfD we could get a Trump like figure.
My main conclusion is: I think Germany has better elites than the US. Probably better elites than the ones in UK too. But in Scandinavia the elites are probably the best. Why is that so? I think this has to do with the idiosyncracies of our cultures. Which values are important. How much money and heritage determines the power dynamics. There is also a lot of corruption in Germany. But we don't come close to the US yet. In the US I think normative questions of equality are not that important. There is the illusion everyone can make it. Everyone can become a billionaire. The American fairy tale. Sorry for being cynical. I think this is a myth. I think overall the American system is better in creating wealth and economic growth. Europeans are compared to the US horrible at implementing business cases for innovative technologies. Or the lack of venture capital is a real problem. The libertarian business mentality is so much stronger in the US. And libertarian Germans envy that. I think the world would be way poorer without the US. We are dependent on the US economy, its innovation and military strength. But I feel sorry for the bottom 30% of the US society. These people and many people here in this forum are fucked beyond repair.
The elites in Scandinavia are not better because there are better people on average. I think they just found the best balance to regulate capitalism. The American ethos is like capitalism on steroids. This can led to the accumulation of extreme wealth. But in the hand of only a few people. I understand if a few people have really good business ideas they can find ways to multiply the money. But trickling down isn't working. Billionaires buy influence in politiics. The policies are favoring only the top 1%. The average citizen becomes cynical and starts to hate democracy. Billionaires use this cynicm and hatred for democracy when they buy media empires and help people into office who promise to fight for the average American while tax cuts for the rich are their main goals. It is insane. The incentive structures are skewed also in Germany. We adapt the American polarization increasingly but in the US politics is even more insane...
