NOTHING TO OFFER BUT FEAR ITSELF:

Say it Slowly: 'Zukunftsangst': Germany is haunted. My countrymen see ghosts everywhere as they go to the polls this Sunday. (Gabor Steingart, 9/15/05, Wall Street Journal)

When neo-Nazis are elected to a regional parliament, many fear a resurgence of Hitler. When a left-wing splinter party gains strength, scores believe they see the ghost of communism. Because Angela Merkel, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, has proposed a larger dose of reform policy than Gerhard Schröder, the current chancellor, millions see her as the reincarnation of Maggie Thatcher. No wonder pollsters have found a level of fear in this election campaign that is greater than anything we've ever experienced since the war. A balance of terror has emerged: Fear of unemployment competes with fear of an overly radical fight against it. Empty state coffers cause the same horror as the budget cuts designed to overcome them. Some call for a serious increase in genetic research, which leads others reflexively to cringe.

Everyone is terrified of everyone. As if of its own accord, the word "fear" attaches itself to the word "future" -- Zukunftsangst permeates the German mind. Fear of reform, fear of stagnation, fear of a failure of democracy and now -- as the frantic climax of this collective neurosis -- the fear of a further growth of fear.

The result is political exhaustion on all sides. On Sunday, Europe's largest industrialized country will most likely elect the weakest of all postwar governments -- assuming the result even allows a government to be formed.

While I'm inclined to think the Atlanticists were actually serious about saving Europe, there's a school of thought that holds this was the aim of America's WWII/Cold War policy, to enervate Europe so completely that it could never threaten our peace again. At any rate, they certainly have been put out of our misery.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 15, 2005 6:19 AM