Posted on 12/07/2018 7:16:35 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
Talk of succession is in the air. After 18 years, Angela Merkel is stepping down as chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union, Germany’s main ruling party since 2005. The party’s conference meets this week in Hamburg to decide her replacement. But whoever follows Ms. Merkel — for many, Europe’s de facto leader — will inherit a fractious party and, if Ms. Merkel is unwilling or unable to see out her chancellorship through to 2021, a fragmented country.
The stability (and even monotony) associated with German politics under Ms. Merkel appears to be coming to an end. Her looming retirement marks a deepening crisis of the German political system that threatens not just the future of the country, but of the European Union.
Explanations for this shake-up often begin and end with Ms. Merkel. Her handling of the so-called refugee crisis and her downbeat, aloof style alienated large chunks of the electorate. The gradual weakening of the centrist parties has in turn fed polarization and the fragmentation of the electorate.
But Ms. Merkel, for all her power and influence, is just one politician. Germany’s new political crisis runs much deeper. It stems from an economic system that has resulted in stagnant wages and insecure jobs. The erosion of Germany’s postwar settlement — a strong welfare state, full-time employment, the opportunity to move up in the world — has created a populace open to messages and movements previously banished to the fringes.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
What, the 70-year free ride from the US might be winding down? And Germany’s peaceful conquest of Europe may be hitting a snag or two?
Germany should become a textbook example of what radical socialism/liberalism can and does do to a country.
Please NYT, just say it plainly. Socialism does not work. Period.
As someone said, it is perhaps understandable that in 1917 people felt Socialism was a viable form of government. But that ship has sailed and at this point, there is just no excuse. Socialism fails. Everywhere. And millions die.
The barren Merkel welcomed her Syrian children into her cold home and will now retire with inner peace. Please be sure not to disturb her naps or meditations as she gazes out the window.
“mission accomplished”
Wow... What a wonderful leader... Don't believe it.?? Just ask the left.. They'll tell you..!
So should America for that matter.
“Her handling of the so-called refugee crisis and her downbeat, aloof style alienated large chunks of the electorate.”
Yeah, alienated the lumpen so much that they kept electing her.
It’s actually worse than a “free ride”; it’s aid and comfort by US liberals to simultaneously build them back up into their common socialist dream and bleed the USA dry, thus undoing what was achieved in WWII.
And giving Germany an alternate route to what Hitler tried but failed at in WWII, while selling out the regular people all the more with the Muslim invasion.
Good.
Three strikes and you are out.
Yes, Germany’s gone. So are France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England.
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