Dear Germany, where are you headed?

Much has already been written in the past few days. That is why I want to look to the future. It has also finally become clear to me what the right-extremist AfD actually wants.

A view from the top of the German Bundestag

Dear Readers,

Has more been broken in Germany in the past few days than we can imagine? Possibly.

It was a week, in which the parties CDU/CSU and FDP voted in favor of a motion together with the right-extremist party AfD. It was the first time that this has happened.

This brings me to these questions: where are we actually heading in Germany right now? Where do we want to go as a society? And what are the plans of our elected representatives in the German Bundestag?

If we had to answer these questions solely on the basis of the past few days, we would end up with nothing but bafflement. The centrist parties have left the voters of this country with more questions than before. But not only that. One party was able to benefit. The right-extremist party AfD. And that’s because it used the opportunity to once again make it crystal clear what it actually wants. The AfD had been waiting for this exact moment.

In the debate following the vote on Wednesday, the first Parliamentary Secretary of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, took to the lectern.

He said:

“Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this is truly a historic moment. Mr. Merz (CDU party leader), you helped to bring it about. And now you are standing here at the microphone, knees shaking and trembling, apologizing and regretting it. That wasn’t chancellor-like, Mr. Merz.

There is this counter-movement against the left-green mainstream in all Western countries. In the USA with Trump, in Italy with Meloni, in the Netherlands with Wilders, in Austria with Kickl. Everywhere, in all Western countries, and now also in Germany. This is a broad movement of the middle classes in all Western countries. It has also arrived in Germany today. And that means the end of red-green dominance here in Germany too, forever.

A new era is beginning here and now, something new is starting and we are leading it, the new forces are leading it, the forces of the AfD. You can follow, Mr. Merz, if you still have the strength to do so.”

What shocked me most about Baumann’s short speech was the last sentence. It actually sent a shiver down my spine. Perhaps because this sentence is so close to reality. The AfD wants to lead, the others should follow. The others are the - in the eyes of the AfD - powerless people’s parties of the past.

Are our priorities the right ones?

I am therefore writing quite explicitly about the AfD and not about possible mistakes by the CDU/CSU, because in the end it must still be clear what is actually at stake here. The parties of the democratic center MUST be clear about what is at stake.

The AfD wants destruction. Destruction of values, destruction of diversity, and the destruction of Germany. There is no other party in the Bundestag that hates Germany as much as the AfD. The AfD can’t stand it when Germany is doing well. The AfD can’t stand the fact that mainstream parties like the CDU or the SPD can reconcile different political and societal currents and find compromises. The AfD is strong when it can credibly argue that Germany is doing badly.

And another thing, and this is aimed very explicitly at the strategists in the CDU: the AfD also wants to destroy the CDU. This is not just my subjective interpretation, it is the stated aim of this party. One of its members, Maximilian Krah, who sits in the EU Parliament, made this very clear in an interview on German television some time ago.

Also here, the exact wording:

Krah: “The European comparison shows that the political right will only succeed if the Christian Democrats disappear. That’s why I’m not betting on the CDU, I’m betting on the implosion of the CDU.”

After this answer, the reporter asked: “So the destruction of the CDU is your goal?”

Krah replied: “Exactly. Ultimately in two parts. One part that is open to the right and one part that is ultimately a kind of Greens 2.0. In this respect, the CDU remains the main strategic opponent and there will only be a new politics in Germany that is not dominated by the Greens if the CDU disappears in its current form.”

The AfD is banking on the implosion and disappearance of the CDU. So anyone who thinks that the AfD is only targeting the Greens or the SPD is very much mistaken.

What does all of this mean?

In November, I wrote a kind of political speech for one of my first newsletters and called it: “This is the speech a Chancellor should give now.”

Part of the speech went like this:

“In the future, democracies must be able to combine humanity and morality with control and order. And the most important point: all of this must be possible (and is possible) on the basis of applicable national and international law. We must abide by international law because we expect others to do the same.

In this context, I am very honest with you: On the issue of migration, all democratic parties in Germany must come together and they must offer something. If they do not, then those who want to undermine democracies already have supposed answers ready and they are ready to implement them.

The democratic center must offer something. Even uncomfortable solutions. Even when it comes to migration. Visible change is needed. People want to be taken seriously. I am campaigning for cooperation and agreements within the European Union and I am also campaigning for cooperation and agreements with countries outside of the EU. Above all, legal migration must always be made possible through humanitarian quotas.”

I remain convinced that the democratic center must offer something!

And I would also like to quote the migration researcher Gerald Knaus (with whom I will soon be recording a podcast, by the way), who a few days ago on the ZDF program Markus Lanz was particularly concerned “that the democratic centrist parties are not succeeding in finding solutions, that parties with radical slogans are profiting from the fact that citizens have the feeling that people are talking but nothing is happening. And that the centrist parties in particular have no strategic view of what the consequences can be.”

According to Knaus, what can result from this is severe damage to the European Union.

But what could also result from this is the end of democracy. And again, this is not my subjective opinion, but just a factual analysis based on what is already happening around us in the EU and also in the United States.

The journalist and author Anne Applebaum writes impressively about this in her book “Autocracy Inc.”, in which she describes how deep the network of people like Viktor Orbán or Donald Trump goes. However, she also describes how they have always had the help of established institutions or private companies on their path to power.

Democracies usually abolish themselves

This brings me to my last point.

Democracies usually abolish themselves. That’s a truism, but that’s the way it is. I hate to draw comparisons with the time before 1933, but it’s just so apt and also - in a frightening way - so fascinating. The CDU politician Armin Laschet gave a clear speech on the subject about a year ago.

He said:

“You can say, well, it won't be that bad. That’s what people thought in 1933. In the Reichstag election, the last one, in November 1932, the Nazis had lost two million votes, they only had 33 percent. In Aachen, Cologne, in that constituency: only 17 percent. And then Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. And then some people said, well, we’ll appoint him now, in two months he’ll squeak, then he’ll have exposed himself, he won’t be successful and he only had two ministers. The Interior Minister Frick and Göring. All the others were from democratic parties. And do you know what happened in the two months up to the time he was supposed to be done with?

January 30th, his appointment. February 1st, dissolution of the Reichstag. February 3rd, Hitler says he wants to ruthlessly germanize and gain living space in the East. February 4th, restriction of freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. February 22nd, SA and SS are appointed as auxiliary police. February 27th, the Reichstag burns. March 5th, another election and again no absolute majority for the Nazis. March 11th, Goebbels becomes Minister of Propaganda. March 22nd, establishment of the Dachau concentration camp. March 23rd, Enabling Act, the end of democracy in Germany.

Everything was destroyed in two months. And that is why anti-democrats must not be allowed to hold any state office. They will use it to eliminate democracy and we will not allow that.”

That is also why I have one final thought. I think it is a mistake to always argue that the only task of elected representatives is to implement what the voters want. That is simply too shallow for me. Nine years ago, a majority of Britons voted to leave the European Union. Today they regret it bitterly. What the majority wants is not always right and we in Germany should know that.

And let’s be honest with ourselves: The current criticism of Angela Merkel’s policies is so hypocritical because WE (a very large majority in Germany) supported these policies for many years.

In 2013, the CDU achieved over 41% (!!) of the vote and in 2017 it still achieved 32.9%. We German citizens have questioned far too rarely what this style of politics means for our future. And why? Because we were doing well at the time. Incidentally, the same applies to the large German companies that have allowed themselves to be lulled by cheap Russian gas (a topic for one of the next newsletters).

I don’t just vote for politicians so that they implement exactly what I want, I also vote for politicians because I want them to make smart, long-term decisions, deal with issues in detail and be able to anticipate what is good for the country in crises and not just for their party or constituency.

In a few weeks’ time, German citizens will head to the polls to elect the next parliament. I can say today: our democracy is alive and kicking. For now.

Philipp Sandmann