VPD
Posted by in Politics at 1:12 p.m. on Sept. 23rd, 20042 Comments 0 Pings
After a long night of beers a couple of weeks ago, I touched base with a Real Live East German. Our discussion of possible solutions to the emerging Nazi problem led us to an interesting idea: the German Rationalist Party, or VPD. Although purely hypothetical at this point, a good libertarian party would run gangbusters in Europe, I suspect.
The real cause of the rise of the right, in my opinion, is the lack of alternatives to the left. There is no truly conservative party in German politics. Of the two main parties, the Social Democrats-Greens alliance (Fischer’s & Schroeder’s party) and Christian Democrats (Stoiber’s Party), neither focuses on individual freedoms or small government. They’re both statist parties with only slightly differing viewpoints on how the government should run everybody’s lives.
The right, on the other hand, doesn’t really seem to be interested in government work per se; just on hot-button social problems, like immigration, reparations to Israel, cultural protectionism and the like.
What Europe in general, and Germany in particular, needs is something to fill the vacuum created by the hard-left turn their politicians have taken. So, the answer to right-wing extremists in Germany could very well be a move toward the center by the left. The people need an alternative to the Socialists that doesn’t involve shaving their heads, and right now, there isn’t one.
Comments
werner
September 23, 2004 at 4:59 p.m.:I agree. All of them are social democrats when it comes to taxing and spending and regulating. The CSU recently acted tough to keep spending under control, but I think they were really scared by the results in Saxony. They need to keep the absolute majority in Bavaria.
However, not every party needs to aim at the majority of votes. The Greens established themselves in their niche, and now the niche is ever growing. I swear, a center-right party (with a libertarian, tax-cutting bent to their social and economic policy, moderately euro-sceptic, conservative on security, realistic on immigration) would be good for a permanent 10 to 15% in nationwide elections. But first you would have to explain to Germans what libertarian means. And realistic.
Flashman
September 23, 2004 at 3:06 p.m.:Very interesting commentary. I had no idea that there was nothing between Schroeder and the NSDAP. But with the liberal, socialist, entitlement minded Deutsch -- is it really possible that a center right government could gain any kind of traction?