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The general explanation given....at least by the Merkel supporters and state-run news media goes along two lines of acceptance.

First, Germany’s birth-rate is declining. A number of experts (last year....some German university did a big research project over it)...now agree that within twenty-five years, if nothing happens to change things, the eighty-million in population today will shrink to around 65-million. There’s some thinking that being open on refugees and immigrants would help to shift the rate problem over the next two decades.

You and I can probably agree that you should ask how and why the rate shift came about, and there’d be a two-hour discussion how Germany arrived at this lesser rate. Basically, they can’t fix this birth-rate issue.

The second part of this deal is simply a false sense of tolerance. Some perceived guilt-trip left over from WW II and how you need to be open and accepting of multiculturalism.

I would say that forty-percent of German society no longer buys off on that false tolerance sense. They’ve either gone to a very anti-immigrant attitude or beginning to ask stupid questions that the news media (state-run of course) can’t answer, and politicians really don’t want to discuss.

The national election isn’t till November of 2017....with Merkel not running. A whole of things can happen by then.

Meanwhile....here in March of 2016....there are three German state elections. Normally, they wouldn’t matter. Folks kinda believe that frustrations will spill over and people will cross a line to vote in a radical way....against Merkel’s party and the SPD party as well. It doesn’t change much within Berlin....but if right-wing elements (AfD for example as a party) were to take strong positions in voting (say above 15-to-20 percent)....then it’d say there is no confidence in the current strategy and trigger some radical changes.