First I bitch and moan about the state of American politics, switching back and forth between the view that we are in thrall to a bunch of low-lifes with tribalistic instincts kissing up to corporate bosses, and the view that America is a perfectly functioning democracy - and that's the problem: we get the government we ask for. Then I swing to the other extreme and turn on all my friends who see things from the same perspective and lecture them on the importance of not turning things over to those on the dark side. Don't forget we have some very decent and capable people working in politics, I say. Think Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and don't give up the ship.
Then I swing back again, agonize over the thought that we have not been able to rid ourselves of this Trump cult and the charlatan may actually run again in 2024 and win. The Republicans have sold their souls to the devil and the democrats don't want to do what appears to be necessary - act like Republicans, compromise their values, find a strong leader to herd the cats they are by necessity as free(er) thinkers. And, to jump metaphors mid-stream, make their clammy hands into fists.
But how?
How do we manage that?
I've been following the German election, as the small handful of friends who have followed me lately know, and when asked to explain that semi-obsession I tell them it's because I tend to hold German politicians in higher regard. Maybe that's because the average German voter is better-informed and their history motivates them to work a tad harder at democracy. Or maybe it's because they're better at calling stupid stupid, and it's harder for the likes of a Ted Cruz or an Andrew Clyde (that bozo from Georgia who pronounced the January 6 insurrection a "normal tourist visit") to get traction.
What's refreshing about the political debate in Germany is that it sometimes veers off into remarkably serious territory when you least expect it. Like on the Markus Lanz talk show recently when a conservative CDU supporter laid into a leftie Left Party leader, admonishing her to remember hers is the party derived from the East German Social Unity Party that ran East Germany, built the wall, turned the whole country into spies, etc. etc. Whereupon she turned on the guy and said, in effect, "And yours is the party that absorbed all the old Nazis into it after the war, helping them get away with murder scot free, so there ain't no way I'm going to take my lessons on history and morality from the likes of you." Something like that. That's her words as seen through an American lens; she was far more civil. But that's essentially what she said.
And speaking of viewing German politics through an American lens, that, it turns out, is a pretty good reason for taking the time to study the German political scene. You can see the conflict between the progressives and the conservatives unencumbered by distractions like all-hat-and-no-cattle Texas bullshitter Cruz. Or the road-kill slick of Lyndsey Graham, whose loyalties - and moral values - can turn on a dime.
I have an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that the alarmists are right when it comes to climate change. Can't prove it. Don't have the technical expertise. It's just a fear, probably over-the-line irrational, but it gets confirmed from all directions, so I can't let it go. I love, absolutely love, the State of California. It has been my home since I first discovered it back in 1963 and vowed to move here one day. Which I did in 1965 and despite 24 years in Japan and more time in Germany and Saudi Arabia, I never stopped calling it home. And now I watch it burst into flames every summer. I also watch Germany flood and Antarctica melt, and I'm scared for the future. I won't be around but I am blessed with a life full of lovable children and my heart aches for them. I am profoundly drawn to the environmental goals of Greta Thunberg and her "Fridays for future" and the world's various "Green" parties.
Because the Union Parties, the conservatives now bidding farewell to a leader, Angela Merkel, so impressive that they actually call her "Mommy" (Mutti), are more focused on wealth generation than climate change, they used the fear of communism as a campaign strategy by just such moves as that attempt to smear the Left spokesperson (Katja Kipping is her name) on the Markus Lanz program with the evils of the East German regime, dismissing her assertions that "The Left" have done a bang-up job of clearing out the rot in their midst and starting fresh, thank you very much, and don't lecture me....
Armin Laschet, the CDU leader who just came in second, rode hard on his Social Democratic Party opponent, Olaf Scholz, for not clearly stating he would not work with the Left Party, which has a "remove Germany from NATO" policy in its program. Scholz refused to take the bait, said policy issues would be worked out post-election when it came time for negotiations over which coalition would rule. But it's clear the left and right division could be defined by what in America gets labeled socialism (which Americans can't distinguish from communism much of the time) on the one hand and capitalism on the other. It also draws the line clearly between environment-first and economy-first advocates. If you listen carefully, both are actually saying both/and, not either/or, but the average German listener, I'm guessing (if I'm not projecting too much America-think on them) likely hears either/or.
The conservative argument makes sense. Christian Lindner is probably its most effective spokesman. He represents the "yellow" party - the Free Democrats, Germany's sometimes socially liberal, usually libertarian party. It's his view, and he's quite explicit about it, that Germany is good at technology and innovation, and we ought not to sell ourselves short; we can meet the carbon reduction and other environmentalist goals better, he says, by not threatening the economy with high taxes, as the left wants to do, but by encouraging innovation.
Never mind that that was one of Angela Merkel's weak points. She was all about economy, because that's what most people, especially those with more money, want - continued economic well-being, protecting the German car industry, for example, and removing much impetus for innovation in doing so. The FDP and the CDU see pretty much eye-to-eye on that issue. "You will never get your green goals unless you have the people behind you," you will hear the CDU and FDP charge, the implication being if you try and tax the rich you'll fall flat on your ass. I can certainly see the appeal of this line of reasoning, but I also can't sublimate my suspicion that for all its appearance of rational common sense, it has the scent of bullshit.
That's my point. That's what listening to the Germans make their points from the left and the right, free of the fog we in America have to contend with, does for me. Brings home the fact that we are dependent on expertise. And it's not just enough to say we should listen to scientists. Of course we should listen to scientists. But which ones? And what do we do with the political realists that say we have to persuade people to follow us, that we cannot do it without broad support? What if the masses are missing the very important claim that we are at the edge of catastrophe and fussing over economic policies at a time like this is shuffling chairs on the Titanic?
I am buffeted personally by friends who argue for leaving the fray to tend their gardens, listen to their music, read their escapist novels. And by others who suggest that democracy, which depends on an enlightened electorate, is probably on the rocks, that it was never more than a pipe dream anyway.
And by people who try to convince me that life is never anything more than a faith journey to begin with, that I should listen to my own advice and live by the wise men and the elephant story, that we never know as much about the big picture as we think we do. Maybe the optimists need to be given a hearing. Maybe the Christian Lindners are right and the engineers of the future will solve our environmental problems.
I really let the know-nothings get to me, those folks conditioned by religion to believe that faith equals wisdom. I hate it when people tell me that God answers prayer, that the folks at Auschwitz simply had a spell of bad luck. Or when if I just close my eyes and tap my red slippers together three times I can get back to Kansas. Or that Trump is a smart man because he's not a politician. And that he's rich because, well, because he's rich.
I want to know how we run a democracy with so many folks tuning out and so many others slipping back into pre-modern notions of white supremacy and other clearly non-democratic ideas. It's a three-way tug-of-war between obliviousness as a value, hope as all-we've-got, and surrender Dorothy.
I'll go with hope, of course.
And maybe tomorrow I'll be more positive about the world.
I'm sure I will.
Pretty sure.
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