September 22, 2005
WHEN THE RIGHTS GO OUT ALL OVER THE WORLD:
The Death of German Conservatism: Amid the post-election noise in Germany, one salient fact has been getting little play. German voters don't trust political parties to the right of the center. It's been a long time coming, but its time to write the obituary of German conservatism. (Charles Hawley, 9/22/05, Der Spiegel)
[I]t's much easier to blame Merkel for the party's election debacle than it is to face the truth exposed on Sunday: The right side of the German political spectrum is in an unfocused freefall. And conservative Germany is a shambles.For years now, German politicians have been telling voters that a bloated social welfare state is simply no longer feasible -- and surveys indicate that many Germans are prepared to tighten their belts. Yet last Sunday, 51.1 percent of the electorate cast their votes for left-of-center parties. Only 9.8 percent voted for classic conservatism in the form of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) and a further 35.2 percent voted for the CDU/CSU, while it talked a tough economic game during the campaign, is hardly comparable with, say, the Republicans in the US. Conservatism, it seems, can't win in today's Germany.
The salient fact abnout European politics is that the sole viable conservative party is Blair and Brown's British Labour. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 22, 2005 10:33 AM
What German conservatism? Outside of Adenauer, there hasn't been a German conservative since Bismarck.
Ah yes. Once again the people truly want one thing while mysteriously voting for the other thing. Danged voters just can't get *anything* right, can they?
Posted by: fred at September 22, 2005 1:05 PMYou don't think Aznar's party has any fight left? And what about Eastern Europe? These are honest questions.
Posted by: Timothy at September 22, 2005 1:15 PMWhere is there a European party of the Right that proposes these three things:
(1) To reform the welfare state.
(2) To preserve what remains of the Judeo-Christian/Grecco-Roman civilization that undergirded their cultures
(3) To extend the values of same abroad
and wins elections running on them?
John Howard, Bill Clinton/George Bush, & Margaret Thatcher/Tony Blair have all done so in the Anglosphere.
Posted by: oj at September 22, 2005 1:29 PMWeren't people commenting on the death of German conservatism after WWI, also?
Posted by: ratbert at September 22, 2005 3:42 PMWhen people are in denial, they will redouble their efforts in the wrong direction. It's like someone pouring gasoline on a fire, thinking it is water. The fact that the fire gets bigger doesn't make them rethink their actions, they just assume they aren't pouring it on fast enough.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at September 22, 2005 4:59 PMAll this shows is the importance of leadership. Had Merkel ran a better campaign and seemed more competent, the CDU/CSU and FDP would easily have had a majority government. How can one talk about a changed nation when one change would have won the election? Of course, since the Kohl scandal, the German right has not shown a deep tier of leaders. A winning coalition can still be achieved, but is anyone up to it?
Posted by: Chris Durnell at September 22, 2005 7:44 PM