Unless you were out looking for it, you may have missed the news from Germany that they are dealing with a bunch of clowns who want to overthrow the government and bring back the German Reich. A German analogue to the white supremacist element of MAGA, with supreme authority in the hands of the Kaisers, a Germany of heroic Siegfrieds and Brunnhildes, free of Jews and foreigners. Reich is a distinctly German word which embraces all monarchical rule from kingdom to empire. It is the antithesis of a republic governed by democratic institutions. I can justify calling them clowns only because, so far, they are both impotent and downright silly, and present no real threat to anybody. Unfortunately, there are two reasons for concern: they are widespread and involve a broad range of followers, including police, military, and members of the justice system, and they are inclined to violence.
Chief among the disparate conspiracy groups are the so-called Reichsbürger, "citizens of the Reich," who have set up a 71-year-old member of the minor nobility, one Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss, to be their leader. Reuss is a wealthy entrepreneur living in Frankfurt who has partially funded the Reichsbürger efforts. Another ringleader is 69-year-old retired military officer Rüdiger von Pescatore, expelled from the army for selling illegally-obtained weapons from the defunct East German army. A third notable would-be member of the new restored government is Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former judge in the Berlin regional court and former right-wing Alternative-for-Germany Party member of the Bundestag (German Parliament).
Looking at this phenomenon through American eyes, three things come immediately to mind. One is the tragic fact that anti-semitism lives on in Germany. A thorough study of German antisemitism will show, I am convinced, that it remains very much a fringe movement, and that Germans as a whole have done much to make their country both proud of its Jewish history and a welcome place for Jews who make Germany their home. But given the impact the horror of the Holocaust has had on Western Civilization, there is no escaping the fact that even the smallest trace of anti-semitism in Germany is disheartening. We hear constantly of the necessity of "eternal vigilance" in keeping democracy alive; the same applies to the effort to head off any possibility of a repeat of the Holocaust.
The second thing that strikes me as worth noting is the way in which the Reichsbürger and other members of what the media are calling the "Reichsbürger Milieu" - a curious choice of words for a grouping of people unhappy with the way many modern-day democracies are run - see the U.S. as the bad guy. Much of their dissatisfaction is understandable and many Americans, including myself, will readily admit that when America sneezes much of the rest of the world catches a cold. But I also see the UK and the EU as more than capable of working out their own destinies with America less and less a big brother as time goes by. Blaming America for Europe's woes is one way to go; finding common ground with your neighbors is a better one. Europe has the numbers, the talent, and the energy, if they can just figure out how to harness these resources.
A third observation I'd like to make how often the U.S. and European democracies find themselves fighting similar struggles. Trump got a foothold in the U.S. because he was able to manipulate the legitimate dissatisfaction among his countrymen that too many of them were falling through the cracks. The gap between the well-to-do and the have-nots has grown to a staggering degree in recent decades, and Americans observe, correctly, that all is not well with the American way of life and government. The problem is they hired a fox to tend to the henhouse. Germans too, are uncomfortable with the cracks in their system. They too, some of them, are looking for a king, a big-daddy to ride in and solve all their problems. So far, fortunately, at least they are not seeking a new Führer. The bottom line, unfortunately, is there is a surprising number of folk in both places who have lost faith in democracy as the best - or, at least, the least bad - way to govern themselves.
None of this is new information, I realize. I repeat it here only to emphasize that the only way out of this mess is a steady persistence, a commitment to do the right thing, to keep going, keep speaking out, keep getting informed and staying informed. You don't need to stick your hand in the fire to know that pain will follow. You don't need to let the clowns and the wackos - and the self-serving Enablers who believe they can ride the tiger - to dismantle democracy in order to see the consequences.
I love it that we have strong democracies and the luxury of allowing blithering idiots like Marjorie Taylor Green and Heinrich XIII to come forward and reveal their limitations as public figures. Keep laughing. And keep watching carefully.
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