Political Landscape in Germany

Last night on German public TV (ARD, Channel One), at 8:15 PM.....ran this one-hour documentary piece entitled "Die Notregierung" (The Emergency Government).  It's a in-depth look at the German government since the 2017 national election and the failing elements of this Merkel coalition.

I would strong recommend it.  Dozens of interviews with key political players and journalists.  It stacks up all the various problems and the public frustration existing.  By the conclusion, you get the impression that just having another election will not resolve this mess. 

Problems relating back to Merkel herself?  Some do.  But alot of this has to do with a weakening public view of the SPD Party, growing list of problems which can't be fixed, the news crowd blasting away nightly, and differing priorities with the public sharply divided. 

The best analogy I can give for this.....is to imagine a typical British fox-hunt.  There's a organizer who releases one fox, then the hounds are released by another guy, and then 200 folks on horseback (half-drunk) will take off for an hour or two for a hunt.

In the German version of this foxhunt, the organizer has released over 50 foxes (the assortment of problems and woes), and the fifty-odd hounds (the journalists) are running in circles because they can't decide on which fox to really go after, with some hounds just sitting and waiting.  Then finally, the 200 hunters (the political establishment) are ready to go, but end up in various directions.  At the end of the day.....not a single fox has been cornered, and the hunt is viewed by locals as a total failure.

The current problem is that you can't resolve the affordable housing crisis, the infrastructure crisis, the asylum and integration crisis, the terror crisis, the crime crisis, the energy grid crisis, the e-car crisis, the climate crisis, the farmer crisis, and the list of thirty-odd additional crisis issues.  Because of this, the public perception is frustrated. 

Settle back, for an interesting period ahead.