They say that in democracy the people generally get the government they deserve. The problem is that within the population there are clear-thinking people that don't deserve.
"humdrum imbecility," "twofold failure," "fractal fuckup," "recognize past errors...keeps making them," "outmanouvered," etc.
May I suggest these descriptions are far too charitable? Pattern recognition to the degree presented becomes an override of Hanlon's Razor. Whereby an inversion of it becomes closer to truth: "Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice."
Two examples in US presidential election history that stand out to me as evidence that parties and politicians will "throw" their own election.
- 2008. John McCain v. Barack Obama. Obama was cleaning McCain's clock in polling. Then McCain put Sarah Palin on the ticket. An obscure governor from Alaska with populist notions but ill-equipped to become a national figure spokesperson for populism. Her acceptance speech at the RNC convention electrified the GOP base voter enthusiasm. McCain surged in popularity. This surprised the McCain team who thought she would sink the ticket. Because McCain and party heads were in cahoots to throw the election; Barry Soetoro was pre-ordained to "fundamentally transform" the nation with the blessing of the Uniparty. Yet, despite the best efforts of McCain's own staff sabotaging Palin, insiders leaking embarrassing stories, many fictional, to harm McCain's chances the "bitter-clingers" in the base of the GOP were still keeping McCain competitive, back and forth in the polls with Obama. Until McCain did the unprecedented: suspended his own campaign with just weeks to go before November. Ostensibly over a contrived banking crisis, so important to McCain that he declared he would rather lose the election to preserve the nation's banks, requiring his full attention...as a senator. Obama didn't match McCain's concerns and continued to campaign as usual. That's how McCain threw his own election, he had to end it prematurely so voters wouldn't choose him over the Chosen One.
- 2012, Mitt Romney v. Barack Obama. Obama was struggling. He wasn't a popular president. Voters were angry over Obamacare fallout. Had given him a "thumping" in the 2010 midterms. The war in Iraq he had campaigned to end was still ongoing, his base was dissatisfied, his opponents were motivated. But Mitt Romney was unappealing to the GOP base. Inauthentic. Had Romneycare, an Obamacare prototype in Massachusetts he passed while governor as an anvil. Was the Wall Street private equity corporate raider who stripped value from struggling companies he acquired, leaving corporate carcasses in his wake. Occupy Wall Street was in the media spotlight. Romney was perfectly positioned to make case for capitalism, the creative destruction aspect of it, that says nothing should be "too big to fail" such that market forces will always seek efficiency and profit, even the biggest will fall if it is no longer profitable; must fall so that other uses of the money and resources can be used more efficiently, more profitably, that meet the market where it is, don't try to hold it back to where it was. Romney was silent. He couldn't attack Obamacare with his own anvil and he refused to speak up for the *virtue* of true market-force capitalism.
As a result Romney was down for most of the campaign, even against a very unpopular incumbent. Until....his second debate against Obama when he started to give voice to the concerns of the GOP base. He sounded like the fighter that the base had been looking for. And surged in popularity, overtaking Obama's lead as enthusiasm in the GOP base grew for a candidate they had little hope in. Until the third and last debate. When Romney went back to the effete 'mom pants'-wearing out-of-touch squish he had been the entire campaign prior to debate #2. Going on to lose bigly, never daring to let 2nd debate Romney be seen in public again. It was like it was intentional, seemed like it, I mean, he had found the secret sauce and then dropped it the moment it began to work.
Seemed intentional. Until 2016. When Romney confirmed it. He was weighing in on joining the presidential campaign before Trump's popularity had grown. In interviews Romney was asked about the 2012 campaign, what he had learned, why he wanted to run again. His response was a confession. He said he really hadn't campaigned as hard as he should have, he was just going through the motions, especially towards the end. But this time (2016) he would campaign differently. Pinky promise. He "thought" he would campaign harder for it this time, "hoped" he wanted it more.
He confessed! He didn't want to win! He threw the 2012 election. And likely would've thrown 2016, too. A rare moment of honesty.
Yes, candidates can and do throw elections. Whether you attribute it to malice, laziness or stupidity this is true. But when patterns emerge malice can and must rise to explain it. Nothing else is sufficient.
That's incredible. One to file. But there's a problem here; 'the right' are obviously the smarter people, and usually the more honest, decent, hard working, down to earth people - so why do they keep losing to slippery scumbags? Time to toughen up?
We ignore our own eyes and experiences forgetting that there's a silent leading "s" in "elections" these days. Maybe always has been that way? Just less obvious. Losing to (s)elected candidates. Illusion of fair elections.
you make it sound easy to take the dive and make it look real! There's a reason why the Washington Generals are always the opponents for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Generally excellent work! However, one thing I see missing from this is that Romney failed to take advantage of the Obama administration's failures that caused American deaths in Tunisia & Obama's crazy reaction to the Benghazi incident. I recall Republican commentators on one of the Presidential debates trying to paint Romney's failure on this matter as brilliant and helpful to his cause.
Thing is, Romney was running to lose. He was running to lose. He wouldn't have taken advantage of any opportunity to win. He was, as a prior commenter noted, the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters. Just there to make it an entertaining game...he was meant to lose. Following the one moment he shone, the second debate, he was put in his place, and told to not try a stunt like that again. Lest he win. The Generals aren't paid to upstage the Globetrotters.
The amazing takeaway from Fatmerican politics is that the full onslaught of private equity firms stealing anything and everything from the public domain is so unfocused, "the *virtue* of true market-force capitalism". The Fatmericans going to the polls are still not fully understanding the implications of the Zionist Lobby, the intense propaganda and embracing victimhood of the protagonists. What is left is "voting as hard as possible" for which president that shits in their drawers.
As much as I will give credit where credit is due, I never had read the inversion of the principle until I wrote it. That doesn't mean others haven't figured it out, just that it must be an uncommon understanding of a world of motivations that's been expressed to the commons to obscure it from view. There's a lot of principles, maxims, idioms, etc that most people tend to give credibility to. A lot earned. A lot is unearned, though. The ones that become more true when inverted.
I dispute this. All of the reversal of climitoid stupidity by Trump and Congress has met with virtually no pushback from the Dems. Yes, a few marginal talkers. And among the people, I feel the general feeling is “thank God!” Yes, some AWFLs still give it lip-service.
Yes, I agree. All the weeds of "climatism" have not been weeded. Fully agree.
I was trying to say that the reversal of climatism is not being "defended" much in public.
A bit further: I think >50% of voters would vote against it, especially if meant all the negative things that recent climatism has been. (Ex: A Lady Bird (if you go back that far) idea of beautifying the highways - people might vote for that some, at a reasonable price.) And "a cleaner environment" might win some at a low price.
Agree. Most people would like a cleaner and prettier environment, as long as the bill isn't very high. We've done much of that, and it was never enough for those who wanted power and used the environment as a vehicle to get it.
True ..Yet try reading Bloomberg . Of course he is certified insane ..but there are others..Tom Steyer in California.
But I agree , it’s been refreshingly quiet ..especially since no one can remember the last hurricane they ever heard about . Weren’t they going to happen weekly soon ?
It’s strange . I think it may be that it is just nutjobs like Bloomberg and of course the people who want to make money . But Bloomberg and another nutjob Tom Steyer in California actually believe it . Ordinary people see it for what it is ..nothing . No one’s life has changed in any way in last 25 years . Now SMOG is a different story . In LA in 1966 , your eyes would water ,your chest hurt and you could literally taste it …great sunsets though
Same in Australia.We are destroying our Coal Burning generators and throwing billions to overseas based companies to produce energy using solar/wind at a loss that is then subsidized using "renewable energy certificates".Most of the public are too stupid to understand this.I am surrounded by homes and cars..all powered by fossil fuels..with "climate action now" stickers on them..whilst electric cars are charged by ..coal...
One of them is anti-matter. The others matter a lot. They should be encouraged to meet and hence both would disappear in a puff of energy - something much more useful for the rest of us.
Yes better them, sick in the psyops destroy each other as we are the carbon the Occultocracy wants to reduce. The sooner their weapons of watermelon Greens and queer culture busters collide the better. Evil eats its own
the topic of Islamism is funny, because British and American oligarchies are in deals with .... Islamists since long. Gulf monarchies: Saudi, Qatar.
They financed Islamism in Afghanistan against Soviet Union. Then they financed it against Russia in Kavkaz. Then they financed it in Irak against Syria. They have put a known Saudi beheader of an Al-Qaeda spin-off branch manipulated by CIA and helped by Israel in charge of Syria.
In Syria the kunts of MI6 were running several operations along chosen jihadist groups. "white helmets" for instance.
Operational involvement of MI6 with jihadist groups starts at least with the Yugoslav wars, where British army was supporting islamists of Bosnia. There were near clashes back then between some British and French military as back then France had not fully returned into NATO, and some military high-ranking French personal on the ground decided to protect some Orthodox villages and churches targeted by Bosnian islamists protected by UK,
The oligarchic class running the City, of which the Windsor and the Rothschild are key elements, don't care about cultural national identities, they see the world as a playground where beliefs and people are manipulated.
If the "working people" so overwhelmingly support AFD, who are the "nonworking" people? Bureaucrats?
I always find it so funny that "populism" has been turned into a slur. What is democracy but populism? Currently reading some Thomas Frank, who writes about this kind of thing.
"They have redefined democracy, or rather redefined demos to include only Good People. Then they created the new word populism to denote what before had been called democracy.
"Progressivism is 90% word magic. The other 10% is daddy issues."
The thing is, never in story we had so much people that don't need to think too much about work. We never had so many pensioners, public bureaucrats, NGO "workers", University Students and wellfare recipients.
The system can't be fixed. It will crash horribly sooner or later.
It's not "working people" who support AFD, it's people who tick on the box "Arbeiter" which represents the working class. If you are a doctor or a programmer or a lawyer or a manager, or anything else academic, you wouldn't click on that box. Also, you wouldn't click on that box if you were self-employed, or a pensioner. So you don't need to be a bureaucrat or a "Beamter (civil servant)" not to be working class.
You don't register to vote in Germany. You have compulsory registration with the Meldeamt at your place of 1st residence. Regardless of your citizenship status. If you ARE a German citizen, you are then provided with a postal notification where you need to vote. Without asking for it. Also, the Meldeamt doesn't ask you if you are "Arbeiter", "Angestellter", "Beamter", "Selbständiger" or "Rentner".
With the exception of the two-stage mayoral elections, the number of mandates in parliament is decided based on proportional representation of the parties. However, I guess 80% of the people KNEW that the current Green/CDU coalition will continue, and that the party getting more votes will be putting up the Prime Minister.
So no. You don't need to select anything. Just vote for the party, and you make the Prime Minister choice all by itself.
Or do you mean people who clicked on "Arbeiter"? There are post-vote survey people who work for private companies that hand out those paper surveys. They are always glad when people answer them, because they can then do demographics on where the votes were coming from, earlier voting patterns etc.
My query was as regards the “arbeiter” designation. Thanks for explaining all of it though! I certainly don't know nearly that much about the detailed workings of the German electoral system.
It's abundantly clear that in most of the West, we haven't hit collective bottom, yet. Of course we got Trump here in the States, but the Congress -- despite the majorities -- are beholden to or believers in noxious globalism and all the ridiculous politics outlined in your articles. Germany longs to return to the good old days of the DDR and top-down authority, whether they say so or not, while we continue to act as if the judiciary is anything but captured. I wish I spoke Hungarian.
Notably in Germany it's the people living in the former DDR who don't want a return and vote AfD in far higher numbers than in the west. Whereas the people of west Germany are racing full steam ahead into more and more green multicultural communism.
Well, don't feel too bad. Idiots won't stop busting out all over. Everyone here in the commentariat: Can you find more than, say, two politicians from any party from wherever you are who isn't a complete total deranged moron? Who manages to be even half-sentient a quarter of the time?
Though maybe at least somewhat understandable, particularly as thinking is often a painful if not hazardous undertaking. 😉🙂
Which, and somewhat apropos of which, reminds me of an old TV sit-comm, Hogan's Heroes, about American and Allied prisoners in a German prisoner-of-war camp -- circa 1942? -- which featured a German guard -- yclept Schultz?, something of a clown and a buffoon -- whose frequent refrain during various camp shenanigans was often, "I know nothing." Which also reminds me of a photo at the end of the war of American/Allied troops marching some German townspeople through various concentration camps to force them to see what had been done in the name of Germany.
Though, as a lighter note, I'm also reminded of this quip: "Universities are concentration camps -- pass it on ..." 😉🙂
Like the Mad Magazine theme of "The Lighter Side of ... Concentration Camps"?
Though the suggested tour was more about illustrating the consequences of Hitler's "Final Solution".
But I see that the "Morgenthau Plan" was never implemented:
Wikipedia: While the Morgenthau Plan had some influence until 10 July 1947 (adoption of JCS 1779) on Allied planning for the occupation of Germany, it was not adopted. .... An investigation by Herbert Hoover concluded the plan was unworkable, and would result in up to 25 million Germans dying from starvation.[5] From 1947, US policies aimed at restoring a "stable and productive Germany" and were soon followed by the Marshall Plan."
Can't say that I ever followed much of what was happening in "Tinsel Town" so haven't a clue who you might be referring to. Though I'm reminded of The Great Escape where the prisoners at least tried to escape whereas those in Hogan's "Heroes" seemed more into feathering their nests -- happy to be away from the front lines? But I'm also reminded of reading a book or seeing a movie, King Rat?, which had a much darker take on prisoners' lives in German prisoner-of-war camps.
"Klemperer is best known, however, as Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the bungling, cowardly, conceited, and self-serving Kommandant of Stalag 13 on Hogan's Heroes which was broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1971. Klemperer was conscious that he would be playing the role of a German officer during the Nazi regime, and he accepted the part only on the condition that Klink would be portrayed as a fool who never succeeded."
👍 Thanks. And I can at least sympathize with you about Wikipedia with which I've had more than a few "differences of opinion".
I had once been an editor there, if rather briefly, before being summarily "defenestrated" for objecting to them asserting that transwoman and Olympian "Laurel" Hubbard had "transitioned to female". In case you were interested ..., do consider my own sad tale of woe on that case. Ten million stories in "The Naked City", and that was one of them 😉🙂:
Seem to recollect paying a woman editor's fees -- several hundred bucks, and US -- for her assistance in putting that post together. Though any remaining flaws or missteps are, of course, my own responsibility. 🙂
I can only speak for my great great grandparents who indentured themselves and booked steerage to America to avoid the cold and scavenging. But then again they ended up in Northern Ohio where the snowfall this season was 31.5” (so far). 🤷🏼♂️🤣
Germans haven’t been turned into retards by prosperity, Germans have been turned into Germans by their Germanosity.
The real red/black/clear pill about Germanics is that we’re, in all our various flavours, beset by a kind of “mass formation autism”. It’s worst with the Nordics and “core Germans” – the Anglos are too mixed with Celts and the Austrians with Slavs to get it full strength. Of course it’s also best with core Germans and Nordics; the same trait makes for amazing engineering and there’s a reason why German cars used to be coveted luxury goods everywhere in the entire world and a tiny nation on the precipice of a frozen wasteland creates globally competitive fighter jets.
National character giveth, and national character taketh away.
A core symptom of this “Deutism” is that we choose a “special interest” at a time (currently climatism with firewall characteristics; could be – and has been – even worse!), and then we ride it in a straight line until we’ve crashed into some immovable object.
That was a real pleasure to read! Nice to see that the quality of eugy's writing inspires more fun writing. I particular loved "climatism with firewall characteristics". :)
Someone I know who lived in Austria described the Austrian way of doing things as "German efficiency but with an Italian attitude". ("Lascia fare a Dio!"). He didn't work the Slav influence into that, but I think you're onto something. In some ways, this "mixed-upness" is probably better.
A couple of years ago, during the Covid scam, you wrote an opinion that the bureaucratic reaction was not malicious, but was an emergent property of the bureaucratic imperative. Your German politics would seem to confirm this, but...
This weekend I read an article cross-posted by Jessica Rose from <escapekey.substack.com> on Maxwell. It took more than an hour but gave history over 60 years of the trail from Robert Maxwell to Jeffrey Epstein, and even back to the nineteenth century with the Rothschilds. We get to vote for whoever is selected; this has been quite evident in Canada through my lifetime.
The article synthesises the political/economic/scientific arrangements which have created the current world. I did not even dip into the links and references except for a glance at the Surgisphere hoax.
This is pretty well confirmation that the Rothschilds are driving most of the development of society over centuries. Other conspiracy theorists note the black nobility and Khazarians as important powers. I have not figured out exactly how China fits into the scheme but their contribution to the Covid plandemic was certainly important.
The importance of central banks must be considered, as well as the functions of intelligence agencies. Recall that Iraq, Libya, and Iran did not have central banks and have been attacked since 2000. As an aside I now wonder if Bitcoin is a construct of the CIA (40% odds), Mossad (30%), the Rothschild legacy (25%), or some anonymous programmer known as Satoshi (5%)
where it's 16 chapters and counting on lingering "Pizzagate" connections. Much of the above is also presented within.
I think China agreed to CoronaPrank, but refused the mRNA experimental injections. China became a "foil" to the Collective Waste's tyrannical resolve, hence all the newfound bigotry.
> As an aside I now wonder if Bitcoin is a construct of the CIA (40% odds), Mossad (30%), the Rothschild legacy (25%), or some anonymous programmer known as Satoshi (5%)
I feel confident in asserting that at least the original concept was legitimate. It was certainly put up in the right place, i.e.: the Cypherpunks mailing list. I just wish I hadn't been too skeptical to participate in the early days... *sigh*
The bitter truth is: no matter how bad the economy becomes, the vast majority of voters are living off the state. Either by being employed by it (directly or indirectly) or by receiving pensions or welfare.
These people will vote for the parties that promise to keep the state money flowing.
In the end, everyone who pays net taxes will vote for the AfD, and everyone else will vote for one of the parties of Ourdemocracy. And the latter will keep the majority, no matter how destructive they are to Germany.
But it cannot continue forever, they will run out of money to buy voters, all western countries are fast approaching that wall. Question is does it happen soon enough to make a difference.
I recently read an economic blog about the cost of being in business in Germany. Because of the employment laws it is extremely difficult to sack or make people redundant. In addition, the employer has to pay out huge redundancy payments. This has stifled small business and innovation. How long before it all collapses??
Probably, but if you want to have any political say in Western Europe, you need to be part of the political machine.
I don't see a way out of it for the time being.
The US may find a way, because they have a technocratic elite (Silicon valley+Wallstreet) with a lot of money behind them. They managed to get the Trump administration into office and are trying to fight the political elite.
But this technocratic elite is completely missing in Europe, and the political class is the sole power.
I've been an eyewitness to the destruction of Germany. I moved here at the end of relevancy of the SPD under Gerhard Schröder, whose motives in his tenure were never in question until he left office.
Enter the "legacy" of "Mutti Merkel." I could throw up every time I remember her saying "Wir schaffen Das," (we can do it), and it ended up as predicted in the Bob the builder cartoon, only without a Wendy or some other character to save the day. The Germans clapped liked trained seals with empty heads and glazed eyes. Perhaps they believed or were conditioned to think that this was required for the forgiveness of the ingrained communal cultural guilt for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. So they welcomed their replacements under the guise, whether real, imagine or implied of earning good Karma to balance out the cultural Karmic load of previous generations. After all, Germany was responsible for not only two wars, but also the HOLOCAUST!
Well, let's say it didn't work out so well, and at least in my generation of Germans, the guilt is still there, in our children not so much. Will things get better? I doubt it.
Are the Germans stupid?
Hardly. Ironically, they're part of an ingenious psyop, now perfected and refined, "The Big Lie" has come of age, and with the coming of AI I anticipate it will get worse. Göbbels must be laughing. Instead of one radio (the Volksempfänger would only get one station, and was the only radio available in…guess when?) I can hear the echos of Göbbel laughing, and Hitler is painting roses. Now there is not only the illusion of many stations, but we are forced to pay a tax to support what is 99 44/100% recycled CNN/MS NOW bullshite. The Major Newspapers are also complicit. It's the old system of GIGO: Garbage in, Garbage out.
One small problem. Many are looking to alternative media. I'm a Master carpenter, Master Cabinetmaker, and Master Mechanic. The folks who work with their hands, have seen this trend for over 15 years. They know when someone is trying to blow smoke up their asses. They are the boots on the ground who see the disconnect from what they see, and what the reality is. Of course, as PA farm boy in Germany, I cannot vote, but my colleagues with calloused hands, aching backs and grease under their fingernails will vote for the AfD.
All is not lost, though. I just stepped out on the balcony, and the local Brass Choir is playing in the Marketplace. So there's still a bit of normalcy here in Kürten, and hope. In Germany, the hope dies last.
I agree with every word you write. Angela Merkel could not have done more damage to Germany even if she had been a paid agent of the KGB or any other foreign entity hostile to Germany. The only real question is how much more of Germany's industrial base will be lost overseas and when the out-migration of people begins.
I think... that Sweden, Poland, France and Norway ought to cut deliveries of power to Germany.
And then ask the German Greens and their voters, how they propose to fix this.
Reason being, none of us propping up Germany since it shuttered its nuclear plants, coal plants and decided to snub Russia by shooting itself in the face with embargos (and to let US-Ukrainian sabotage of NS go unpunished), are really able to continue to do that for much longer.
Sweden f.e. is 5-15 years from rebuilding full nuclear power, and that's on a timeline where construction starts today (which it isn't). We simply can't afford it.
The profits go into the pockets of capitalists and doesnt benefit the nation at all, while potential investments are lost because we can't supply power to new industry/businesses.
Perhaps a smaller version of that would be a good lesson for the voters of B-W?
A massive blackout might be a beneficial thing for us if it succeeded in waking people up from their stupor. However there's a good chance that the average CDU/SPD/Green party voter would promptly find a way to blame Trump/Musk/Putin/Iran for the consequences of our terrible energy policy.
I've wished for a blackout also. But then I realized, they would say they didn't have enough renewables yet. And take out even more debt and finally cover every field and forest in wind turbines and solar panels.
Whenever I despair at the state of US politics, Germany is always there to make me feel better.
And Hagel's "understanding" of the greenhouse effect explains exactly why he holds the beliefs that he does on climate. Unfortunately, I suspect he's not alone in his ignorance. I doubt whether 10% of politicians that love to pontificate on climate could explain what the greenhouse effect actually is.
Especially not that one. The photo tells all. He looks like the kind of fellow prone to stomach upsets caused by spicy foods... such as vanilla ice cream.
I am sorry.
They say that in democracy the people generally get the government they deserve. The problem is that within the population there are clear-thinking people that don't deserve.
"humdrum imbecility," "twofold failure," "fractal fuckup," "recognize past errors...keeps making them," "outmanouvered," etc.
May I suggest these descriptions are far too charitable? Pattern recognition to the degree presented becomes an override of Hanlon's Razor. Whereby an inversion of it becomes closer to truth: "Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice."
For reader consideration.
I have never read that "malice vs stupidity" principle in reverse, but yes, there is probably a lot of that.
Two examples in US presidential election history that stand out to me as evidence that parties and politicians will "throw" their own election.
- 2008. John McCain v. Barack Obama. Obama was cleaning McCain's clock in polling. Then McCain put Sarah Palin on the ticket. An obscure governor from Alaska with populist notions but ill-equipped to become a national figure spokesperson for populism. Her acceptance speech at the RNC convention electrified the GOP base voter enthusiasm. McCain surged in popularity. This surprised the McCain team who thought she would sink the ticket. Because McCain and party heads were in cahoots to throw the election; Barry Soetoro was pre-ordained to "fundamentally transform" the nation with the blessing of the Uniparty. Yet, despite the best efforts of McCain's own staff sabotaging Palin, insiders leaking embarrassing stories, many fictional, to harm McCain's chances the "bitter-clingers" in the base of the GOP were still keeping McCain competitive, back and forth in the polls with Obama. Until McCain did the unprecedented: suspended his own campaign with just weeks to go before November. Ostensibly over a contrived banking crisis, so important to McCain that he declared he would rather lose the election to preserve the nation's banks, requiring his full attention...as a senator. Obama didn't match McCain's concerns and continued to campaign as usual. That's how McCain threw his own election, he had to end it prematurely so voters wouldn't choose him over the Chosen One.
- 2012, Mitt Romney v. Barack Obama. Obama was struggling. He wasn't a popular president. Voters were angry over Obamacare fallout. Had given him a "thumping" in the 2010 midterms. The war in Iraq he had campaigned to end was still ongoing, his base was dissatisfied, his opponents were motivated. But Mitt Romney was unappealing to the GOP base. Inauthentic. Had Romneycare, an Obamacare prototype in Massachusetts he passed while governor as an anvil. Was the Wall Street private equity corporate raider who stripped value from struggling companies he acquired, leaving corporate carcasses in his wake. Occupy Wall Street was in the media spotlight. Romney was perfectly positioned to make case for capitalism, the creative destruction aspect of it, that says nothing should be "too big to fail" such that market forces will always seek efficiency and profit, even the biggest will fall if it is no longer profitable; must fall so that other uses of the money and resources can be used more efficiently, more profitably, that meet the market where it is, don't try to hold it back to where it was. Romney was silent. He couldn't attack Obamacare with his own anvil and he refused to speak up for the *virtue* of true market-force capitalism.
As a result Romney was down for most of the campaign, even against a very unpopular incumbent. Until....his second debate against Obama when he started to give voice to the concerns of the GOP base. He sounded like the fighter that the base had been looking for. And surged in popularity, overtaking Obama's lead as enthusiasm in the GOP base grew for a candidate they had little hope in. Until the third and last debate. When Romney went back to the effete 'mom pants'-wearing out-of-touch squish he had been the entire campaign prior to debate #2. Going on to lose bigly, never daring to let 2nd debate Romney be seen in public again. It was like it was intentional, seemed like it, I mean, he had found the secret sauce and then dropped it the moment it began to work.
Seemed intentional. Until 2016. When Romney confirmed it. He was weighing in on joining the presidential campaign before Trump's popularity had grown. In interviews Romney was asked about the 2012 campaign, what he had learned, why he wanted to run again. His response was a confession. He said he really hadn't campaigned as hard as he should have, he was just going through the motions, especially towards the end. But this time (2016) he would campaign differently. Pinky promise. He "thought" he would campaign harder for it this time, "hoped" he wanted it more.
He confessed! He didn't want to win! He threw the 2012 election. And likely would've thrown 2016, too. A rare moment of honesty.
Yes, candidates can and do throw elections. Whether you attribute it to malice, laziness or stupidity this is true. But when patterns emerge malice can and must rise to explain it. Nothing else is sufficient.
That's incredible. One to file. But there's a problem here; 'the right' are obviously the smarter people, and usually the more honest, decent, hard working, down to earth people - so why do they keep losing to slippery scumbags? Time to toughen up?
We ignore our own eyes and experiences forgetting that there's a silent leading "s" in "elections" these days. Maybe always has been that way? Just less obvious. Losing to (s)elected candidates. Illusion of fair elections.
So damn true, Obama, Macron, Carney etc come to mind. Now China seems to have chosen ghastly Gavin.
The system rewards slippery scumbags, and honest, decent people don't want to go anywhere near it.
You get paid for bigotry?
The only "smarter ones" are those that are on the better end of a firearm, and they can be any direction.
you make it sound easy to take the dive and make it look real! There's a reason why the Washington Generals are always the opponents for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Generally excellent work! However, one thing I see missing from this is that Romney failed to take advantage of the Obama administration's failures that caused American deaths in Tunisia & Obama's crazy reaction to the Benghazi incident. I recall Republican commentators on one of the Presidential debates trying to paint Romney's failure on this matter as brilliant and helpful to his cause.
https://www.britannica.com/event/2012-Benghazi-attacks
Thing is, Romney was running to lose. He was running to lose. He wouldn't have taken advantage of any opportunity to win. He was, as a prior commenter noted, the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters. Just there to make it an entertaining game...he was meant to lose. Following the one moment he shone, the second debate, he was put in his place, and told to not try a stunt like that again. Lest he win. The Generals aren't paid to upstage the Globetrotters.
Pierre Delecto…such a total douchebag.
The amazing takeaway from Fatmerican politics is that the full onslaught of private equity firms stealing anything and everything from the public domain is so unfocused, "the *virtue* of true market-force capitalism". The Fatmericans going to the polls are still not fully understanding the implications of the Zionist Lobby, the intense propaganda and embracing victimhood of the protagonists. What is left is "voting as hard as possible" for which president that shits in their drawers.
Best example: the new administration in Virginia.
How about starting to consider the term "malice" as a misleading euphemism for "high-treason" ??? ... 🤔🤔🤔.
There's NEVER been any stupidity in politics !!!
As much as I will give credit where credit is due, I never had read the inversion of the principle until I wrote it. That doesn't mean others haven't figured it out, just that it must be an uncommon understanding of a world of motivations that's been expressed to the commons to obscure it from view. There's a lot of principles, maxims, idioms, etc that most people tend to give credibility to. A lot earned. A lot is unearned, though. The ones that become more true when inverted.
Hanlon: the greatest Pollyanna.
Yup.
The quote ends with “ good and hard “ ..HL Mencken
You got off quite lightly. In the UK not only are the Greens stupid they are Islamist apologists and Marxists . God help us all !
In the USA despite Trump’s pivot to fosssil fuels , the masses still believe in climate change . It is hopelsss .
I dispute this. All of the reversal of climitoid stupidity by Trump and Congress has met with virtually no pushback from the Dems. Yes, a few marginal talkers. And among the people, I feel the general feeling is “thank God!” Yes, some AWFLs still give it lip-service.
The states have picked up the grift. NY is still subsidizing solar where the sun doesn't shine and the snow doesn't melt. Follow the money trail.
Yes, I agree. All the weeds of "climatism" have not been weeded. Fully agree.
I was trying to say that the reversal of climatism is not being "defended" much in public.
A bit further: I think >50% of voters would vote against it, especially if meant all the negative things that recent climatism has been. (Ex: A Lady Bird (if you go back that far) idea of beautifying the highways - people might vote for that some, at a reasonable price.) And "a cleaner environment" might win some at a low price.
Agree. Most people would like a cleaner and prettier environment, as long as the bill isn't very high. We've done much of that, and it was never enough for those who wanted power and used the environment as a vehicle to get it.
Same in California
True ..Yet try reading Bloomberg . Of course he is certified insane ..but there are others..Tom Steyer in California.
But I agree , it’s been refreshingly quiet ..especially since no one can remember the last hurricane they ever heard about . Weren’t they going to happen weekly soon ?
Still, "climate change" regularly finishes dead-last when poll respondents rank issues in order of importance.
It’s strange . I think it may be that it is just nutjobs like Bloomberg and of course the people who want to make money . But Bloomberg and another nutjob Tom Steyer in California actually believe it . Ordinary people see it for what it is ..nothing . No one’s life has changed in any way in last 25 years . Now SMOG is a different story . In LA in 1966 , your eyes would water ,your chest hurt and you could literally taste it …great sunsets though
Same in Australia.We are destroying our Coal Burning generators and throwing billions to overseas based companies to produce energy using solar/wind at a loss that is then subsidized using "renewable energy certificates".Most of the public are too stupid to understand this.I am surrounded by homes and cars..all powered by fossil fuels..with "climate action now" stickers on them..whilst electric cars are charged by ..coal...
Mass-tards are keeping net zero on the books while trying to pass laws to placate the populace, which is getting surly.
https://www.massfiscal.org/house_energy_bill_misses_the_mark_on_long_term_relief
They're also LGBTQ+ enthusiasts who want to legalise drugs so it's probably best if their supporters never meet.
On the contrary.
One of them is anti-matter. The others matter a lot. They should be encouraged to meet and hence both would disappear in a puff of energy - something much more useful for the rest of us.
Yes, all that lovely carbon !
Yes better them, sick in the psyops destroy each other as we are the carbon the Occultocracy wants to reduce. The sooner their weapons of watermelon Greens and queer culture busters collide the better. Evil eats its own
Ha, turkeys voting for Ramadan !
"Islamist apologists"
-----------
the topic of Islamism is funny, because British and American oligarchies are in deals with .... Islamists since long. Gulf monarchies: Saudi, Qatar.
They financed Islamism in Afghanistan against Soviet Union. Then they financed it against Russia in Kavkaz. Then they financed it in Irak against Syria. They have put a known Saudi beheader of an Al-Qaeda spin-off branch manipulated by CIA and helped by Israel in charge of Syria.
In Syria the kunts of MI6 were running several operations along chosen jihadist groups. "white helmets" for instance.
Operational involvement of MI6 with jihadist groups starts at least with the Yugoslav wars, where British army was supporting islamists of Bosnia. There were near clashes back then between some British and French military as back then France had not fully returned into NATO, and some military high-ranking French personal on the ground decided to protect some Orthodox villages and churches targeted by Bosnian islamists protected by UK,
The oligarchic class running the City, of which the Windsor and the Rothschild are key elements, don't care about cultural national identities, they see the world as a playground where beliefs and people are manipulated.
Oh, the Greens are Marxists *everywhere*. "Watermelons", as the saying goes. Green on the outside, Red on the inside.
If the "working people" so overwhelmingly support AFD, who are the "nonworking" people? Bureaucrats?
I always find it so funny that "populism" has been turned into a slur. What is democracy but populism? Currently reading some Thomas Frank, who writes about this kind of thing.
non-working people are pensioners, mostly. also various people on the dole, uni students, and a smattering of other similar types.
Most government employees could be put into either category.
And many, many unwanted forced immigrants.
How many get to vote?
"They have redefined democracy, or rather redefined demos to include only Good People. Then they created the new word populism to denote what before had been called democracy.
"Progressivism is 90% word magic. The other 10% is daddy issues."
--PETER HÖNIG
> "Progressivism is 90% word magic. The other 10% is daddy issues."
🤣🤣🤣
Oh, gods, that's *perfect*!
I knew it was worth stealing.
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/the-firewall-is-making-afd-the-strongest/comment/168097598
so true.
The thing is, never in story we had so much people that don't need to think too much about work. We never had so many pensioners, public bureaucrats, NGO "workers", University Students and wellfare recipients.
The system can't be fixed. It will crash horribly sooner or later.
It's not "working people" who support AFD, it's people who tick on the box "Arbeiter" which represents the working class. If you are a doctor or a programmer or a lawyer or a manager, or anything else academic, you wouldn't click on that box. Also, you wouldn't click on that box if you were self-employed, or a pensioner. So you don't need to be a bureaucrat or a "Beamter (civil servant)" not to be working class.
Is this a thing a person would select while completing a poll? Or while registering to vote?
You don't register to vote in Germany. You have compulsory registration with the Meldeamt at your place of 1st residence. Regardless of your citizenship status. If you ARE a German citizen, you are then provided with a postal notification where you need to vote. Without asking for it. Also, the Meldeamt doesn't ask you if you are "Arbeiter", "Angestellter", "Beamter", "Selbständiger" or "Rentner".
With the exception of the two-stage mayoral elections, the number of mandates in parliament is decided based on proportional representation of the parties. However, I guess 80% of the people KNEW that the current Green/CDU coalition will continue, and that the party getting more votes will be putting up the Prime Minister.
So no. You don't need to select anything. Just vote for the party, and you make the Prime Minister choice all by itself.
Or do you mean people who clicked on "Arbeiter"? There are post-vote survey people who work for private companies that hand out those paper surveys. They are always glad when people answer them, because they can then do demographics on where the votes were coming from, earlier voting patterns etc.
My query was as regards the “arbeiter” designation. Thanks for explaining all of it though! I certainly don't know nearly that much about the detailed workings of the German electoral system.
It's abundantly clear that in most of the West, we haven't hit collective bottom, yet. Of course we got Trump here in the States, but the Congress -- despite the majorities -- are beholden to or believers in noxious globalism and all the ridiculous politics outlined in your articles. Germany longs to return to the good old days of the DDR and top-down authority, whether they say so or not, while we continue to act as if the judiciary is anything but captured. I wish I spoke Hungarian.
Notably in Germany it's the people living in the former DDR who don't want a return and vote AfD in far higher numbers than in the west. Whereas the people of west Germany are racing full steam ahead into more and more green multicultural communism.
like love, socialism is the triumph of hope over experience
There is no bottom deep enough for these morons. South Africa still has libtards. They can never learn.
Well, don't feel too bad. Idiots won't stop busting out all over. Everyone here in the commentariat: Can you find more than, say, two politicians from any party from wherever you are who isn't a complete total deranged moron? Who manages to be even half-sentient a quarter of the time?
Watching Joe Biden at that post-burial ceremony for the "Rev" Jackson may answer that question.
Oh, we don't even count him anymore. That would be unkind. But for his entire career previously,..
Whaddayamean? That was just another example of Joey at the top of his game!
👍👌😉🙂 But that reminds me of a classic quip at least popularized by Bertrand Russell:
QI: Most People Would Die Sooner Than Think—In Fact, They Do So
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/09/23/think/
Though maybe at least somewhat understandable, particularly as thinking is often a painful if not hazardous undertaking. 😉🙂
Which, and somewhat apropos of which, reminds me of an old TV sit-comm, Hogan's Heroes, about American and Allied prisoners in a German prisoner-of-war camp -- circa 1942? -- which featured a German guard -- yclept Schultz?, something of a clown and a buffoon -- whose frequent refrain during various camp shenanigans was often, "I know nothing." Which also reminds me of a photo at the end of the war of American/Allied troops marching some German townspeople through various concentration camps to force them to see what had been done in the name of Germany.
Though, as a lighter note, I'm also reminded of this quip: "Universities are concentration camps -- pass it on ..." 😉🙂
"Hogan's Heroes" was the comedic version of "Stalag 17"
"... photo at the end of the war of American/Allied troops marching some German townspeople through various concentration camps"
Ah yes. Give them a tour of what they will experience via the "Morganthau Plan":
"You will do as you are told, YES?"
Like the Mad Magazine theme of "The Lighter Side of ... Concentration Camps"?
Though the suggested tour was more about illustrating the consequences of Hitler's "Final Solution".
But I see that the "Morgenthau Plan" was never implemented:
Wikipedia: While the Morgenthau Plan had some influence until 10 July 1947 (adoption of JCS 1779) on Allied planning for the occupation of Germany, it was not adopted. .... An investigation by Herbert Hoover concluded the plan was unworkable, and would result in up to 25 million Germans dying from starvation.[5] From 1947, US policies aimed at restoring a "stable and productive Germany" and were soon followed by the Marshall Plan."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan
It's very funny to read about the casting of Hogan's Heroes and the stipulation one of the actors demanded if he was to play his role.
👍 Do tell. Links? Search terms? 😉🙂
Can't say that I ever followed much of what was happening in "Tinsel Town" so haven't a clue who you might be referring to. Though I'm reminded of The Great Escape where the prisoners at least tried to escape whereas those in Hogan's "Heroes" seemed more into feathering their nests -- happy to be away from the front lines? But I'm also reminded of reading a book or seeing a movie, King Rat?, which had a much darker take on prisoners' lives in German prisoner-of-war camps.
From Wikipedia (it does have some uses):
"Klemperer is best known, however, as Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the bungling, cowardly, conceited, and self-serving Kommandant of Stalag 13 on Hogan's Heroes which was broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1971. Klemperer was conscious that he would be playing the role of a German officer during the Nazi regime, and he accepted the part only on the condition that Klink would be portrayed as a fool who never succeeded."
👍 Thanks. And I can at least sympathize with you about Wikipedia with which I've had more than a few "differences of opinion".
I had once been an editor there, if rather briefly, before being summarily "defenestrated" for objecting to them asserting that transwoman and Olympian "Laurel" Hubbard had "transitioned to female". In case you were interested ..., do consider my own sad tale of woe on that case. Ten million stories in "The Naked City", and that was one of them 😉🙂:
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/wikipedias-lysenkoism
Seem to recollect paying a woman editor's fees -- several hundred bucks, and US -- for her assistance in putting that post together. Though any remaining flaws or missteps are, of course, my own responsibility. 🙂
It's pretty useful for tracking down the names of actors from b&w movies that made it onto TV when I was three or so.
They won’t be happy until they’re living like preindustrial Irish, huddling together under a peat-moss blanket and scavenging for roots and berries.
Irish? Did preindustrial Irish live much differently from preindustrial English, French, or Germans?
I can only speak for my great great grandparents who indentured themselves and booked steerage to America to avoid the cold and scavenging. But then again they ended up in Northern Ohio where the snowfall this season was 31.5” (so far). 🤷🏼♂️🤣
Yes.
It least it doesn’t get really cold or hot out here. Germany doesn’t have the best climate for energy poverty…
Germans haven’t been turned into retards by prosperity, Germans have been turned into Germans by their Germanosity.
The real red/black/clear pill about Germanics is that we’re, in all our various flavours, beset by a kind of “mass formation autism”. It’s worst with the Nordics and “core Germans” – the Anglos are too mixed with Celts and the Austrians with Slavs to get it full strength. Of course it’s also best with core Germans and Nordics; the same trait makes for amazing engineering and there’s a reason why German cars used to be coveted luxury goods everywhere in the entire world and a tiny nation on the precipice of a frozen wasteland creates globally competitive fighter jets.
National character giveth, and national character taketh away.
A core symptom of this “Deutism” is that we choose a “special interest” at a time (currently climatism with firewall characteristics; could be – and has been – even worse!), and then we ride it in a straight line until we’ve crashed into some immovable object.
It is what it is.
That was a real pleasure to read! Nice to see that the quality of eugy's writing inspires more fun writing. I particular loved "climatism with firewall characteristics". :)
Someone I know who lived in Austria described the Austrian way of doing things as "German efficiency but with an Italian attitude". ("Lascia fare a Dio!"). He didn't work the Slav influence into that, but I think you're onto something. In some ways, this "mixed-upness" is probably better.
I note AfD is kicking ass. Anyone not part of the Evil Fascist Hitler party might get stuck trying to rationalize the lunatic Green Party proposals.
AfD did okay, but I would've liked to see them above 20%. Not that it would make much practical difference for this cycle, but still.
A couple of years ago, during the Covid scam, you wrote an opinion that the bureaucratic reaction was not malicious, but was an emergent property of the bureaucratic imperative. Your German politics would seem to confirm this, but...
This weekend I read an article cross-posted by Jessica Rose from <escapekey.substack.com> on Maxwell. It took more than an hour but gave history over 60 years of the trail from Robert Maxwell to Jeffrey Epstein, and even back to the nineteenth century with the Rothschilds. We get to vote for whoever is selected; this has been quite evident in Canada through my lifetime.
The article synthesises the political/economic/scientific arrangements which have created the current world. I did not even dip into the links and references except for a glance at the Surgisphere hoax.
This is pretty well confirmation that the Rothschilds are driving most of the development of society over centuries. Other conspiracy theorists note the black nobility and Khazarians as important powers. I have not figured out exactly how China fits into the scheme but their contribution to the Covid plandemic was certainly important.
The importance of central banks must be considered, as well as the functions of intelligence agencies. Recall that Iraq, Libya, and Iran did not have central banks and have been attacked since 2000. As an aside I now wonder if Bitcoin is a construct of the CIA (40% odds), Mossad (30%), the Rothschild legacy (25%), or some anonymous programmer known as Satoshi (5%)
This 'Stacker is the epitome of "research rabbit hole",
https://chemtrails.substack.com/
where it's 16 chapters and counting on lingering "Pizzagate" connections. Much of the above is also presented within.
I think China agreed to CoronaPrank, but refused the mRNA experimental injections. China became a "foil" to the Collective Waste's tyrannical resolve, hence all the newfound bigotry.
> As an aside I now wonder if Bitcoin is a construct of the CIA (40% odds), Mossad (30%), the Rothschild legacy (25%), or some anonymous programmer known as Satoshi (5%)
I feel confident in asserting that at least the original concept was legitimate. It was certainly put up in the right place, i.e.: the Cypherpunks mailing list. I just wish I hadn't been too skeptical to participate in the early days... *sigh*
The bitter truth is: no matter how bad the economy becomes, the vast majority of voters are living off the state. Either by being employed by it (directly or indirectly) or by receiving pensions or welfare.
These people will vote for the parties that promise to keep the state money flowing.
In the end, everyone who pays net taxes will vote for the AfD, and everyone else will vote for one of the parties of Ourdemocracy. And the latter will keep the majority, no matter how destructive they are to Germany.
But it cannot continue forever, they will run out of money to buy voters, all western countries are fast approaching that wall. Question is does it happen soon enough to make a difference.
Not forever, but maybe for a long time.
Rome declined for 200 years.
The Soviet Union was bankrupt in the 70ies, and it took almost 30 years to fail.
Germany still has a lot of capital it build in the last 200 years, and decades to kick the can down the road.
I recently read an economic blog about the cost of being in business in Germany. Because of the employment laws it is extremely difficult to sack or make people redundant. In addition, the employer has to pay out huge redundancy payments. This has stifled small business and innovation. How long before it all collapses??
Yes, that iy true.
On the flip side, this also makes it hard to get employed, especially if you are older.
I don't think it will collapse, just degrade and decline. But also I don't think anyone knows how it will lool öike in 20 years.
Interesting times.
Thats very true Andreas. The UK is exactly the same.
Recently "Business Rates" have had a massive arbitrary increase from an unsustainable level.
It will kill the Golden Goose bit by bit.
Do you need to be self employed and not sustained by public sector /state largesse to develop any common sense?
Probably, but if you want to have any political say in Western Europe, you need to be part of the political machine.
I don't see a way out of it for the time being.
The US may find a way, because they have a technocratic elite (Silicon valley+Wallstreet) with a lot of money behind them. They managed to get the Trump administration into office and are trying to fight the political elite.
But this technocratic elite is completely missing in Europe, and the political class is the sole power.
Socialism always leads to this negative circularity ultimately.
It is like an invasive "grass" weed (bermuda grass https://extension.umd.edu/resource/bermudagrass-or-wiregrass/) these stupid people.... they ruin everything they touch.
I live in Virginia and it is just the same.
I've been an eyewitness to the destruction of Germany. I moved here at the end of relevancy of the SPD under Gerhard Schröder, whose motives in his tenure were never in question until he left office.
Enter the "legacy" of "Mutti Merkel." I could throw up every time I remember her saying "Wir schaffen Das," (we can do it), and it ended up as predicted in the Bob the builder cartoon, only without a Wendy or some other character to save the day. The Germans clapped liked trained seals with empty heads and glazed eyes. Perhaps they believed or were conditioned to think that this was required for the forgiveness of the ingrained communal cultural guilt for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. So they welcomed their replacements under the guise, whether real, imagine or implied of earning good Karma to balance out the cultural Karmic load of previous generations. After all, Germany was responsible for not only two wars, but also the HOLOCAUST!
Well, let's say it didn't work out so well, and at least in my generation of Germans, the guilt is still there, in our children not so much. Will things get better? I doubt it.
Are the Germans stupid?
Hardly. Ironically, they're part of an ingenious psyop, now perfected and refined, "The Big Lie" has come of age, and with the coming of AI I anticipate it will get worse. Göbbels must be laughing. Instead of one radio (the Volksempfänger would only get one station, and was the only radio available in…guess when?) I can hear the echos of Göbbel laughing, and Hitler is painting roses. Now there is not only the illusion of many stations, but we are forced to pay a tax to support what is 99 44/100% recycled CNN/MS NOW bullshite. The Major Newspapers are also complicit. It's the old system of GIGO: Garbage in, Garbage out.
One small problem. Many are looking to alternative media. I'm a Master carpenter, Master Cabinetmaker, and Master Mechanic. The folks who work with their hands, have seen this trend for over 15 years. They know when someone is trying to blow smoke up their asses. They are the boots on the ground who see the disconnect from what they see, and what the reality is. Of course, as PA farm boy in Germany, I cannot vote, but my colleagues with calloused hands, aching backs and grease under their fingernails will vote for the AfD.
All is not lost, though. I just stepped out on the balcony, and the local Brass Choir is playing in the Marketplace. So there's still a bit of normalcy here in Kürten, and hope. In Germany, the hope dies last.
I agree with every word you write. Angela Merkel could not have done more damage to Germany even if she had been a paid agent of the KGB or any other foreign entity hostile to Germany. The only real question is how much more of Germany's industrial base will be lost overseas and when the out-migration of people begins.
I think... that Sweden, Poland, France and Norway ought to cut deliveries of power to Germany.
And then ask the German Greens and their voters, how they propose to fix this.
Reason being, none of us propping up Germany since it shuttered its nuclear plants, coal plants and decided to snub Russia by shooting itself in the face with embargos (and to let US-Ukrainian sabotage of NS go unpunished), are really able to continue to do that for much longer.
Sweden f.e. is 5-15 years from rebuilding full nuclear power, and that's on a timeline where construction starts today (which it isn't). We simply can't afford it.
The profits go into the pockets of capitalists and doesnt benefit the nation at all, while potential investments are lost because we can't supply power to new industry/businesses.
Perhaps a smaller version of that would be a good lesson for the voters of B-W?
A massive blackout might be a beneficial thing for us if it succeeded in waking people up from their stupor. However there's a good chance that the average CDU/SPD/Green party voter would promptly find a way to blame Trump/Musk/Putin/Iran for the consequences of our terrible energy policy.
Knowing from our own Greens up here, I'd say you're likely right.
Admitting being wrong or mistaken or that one of their ideas need more work to function, well... no.
One could possibly write a professorial thesis on the psychology of Green politicians.
I've wished for a blackout also. But then I realized, they would say they didn't have enough renewables yet. And take out even more debt and finally cover every field and forest in wind turbines and solar panels.
So instead, I now wish for bankrupcy.
"I hate everything."
This is an increasingly sensible worldview.
Whenever I despair at the state of US politics, Germany is always there to make me feel better.
And Hagel's "understanding" of the greenhouse effect explains exactly why he holds the beliefs that he does on climate. Unfortunately, I suspect he's not alone in his ignorance. I doubt whether 10% of politicians that love to pontificate on climate could explain what the greenhouse effect actually is.
I watched a video of him talking to that class. It was very embarrassing, and I'm not even German.
The best was when he told the teacher to stop interrupting him and she just smirked
You don't have to understand it, you just have to parrot it.
https://tinyurl.com/3pjap8zd
A schoolgirl going weak at the knees in the presence of a party bureaucrat? Pass the smelling salts.
Especially not that one. The photo tells all. He looks like the kind of fellow prone to stomach upsets caused by spicy foods... such as vanilla ice cream.
Incidentally, doesn't the official de-extremelisting of the Evil Fascist Nazi Hitler Party weaken the firewall case?
many people seem to think so, including some people at FAZ. this has not yet penetrated the impermeable CDU obliviousness bunker.