Defining Merkeling

There was a new word introduced into German society for 2015, and was noted a bit over December.  The term?  Merkeling.

To define it?  Well, it's simplistic in some ways and problematic in other ways.

Merkeling refers to the general strategy of Chancellor Merkel on topics that affect the national authority of Germany.  Some people have viewed the strategy and adapted it for regional, state, and urban situations.  Some will say that Merkeling has been around for a thousand years and it simply was finally defined in a public sense.

So, when facing a crisis, a decision, or a point requiring a conclusion......you choose to do nothing, and let the period of nothing envelop the problem, and what comes out of this do-nothing period will be the right decision.

If it sounds like a leader who doesn't lead.....well, that was my original thought as I read through the various descriptions.

But then you start to think about it.  People tend to look at a problem....review only half of the problem itself, and then make a half-ass or unwise decision which fixes only half of the problem.  In some ways, they make a bigger problem out of what existed before.

You can look at acts of the White House over the last twenty years, the Senate accomplishments, and a number of business decisions made in the US.....in which a decision made things worse instead of better.

So, Merkeling removes that issue.  You simply keep standing there and observing the problem and saying little or changing only the bare minimum necessary.

Some people in Germany are negative about Merkeling.  They believe that leaders ought to lead....make public statements.....get engaged.....and respond to crisis moments.

Letting things run their course might have negative and positive moments.  One could have allowed Hitler to just run freely.....which would have been unwise.  One could have viewed the Wall Street crash in 1929, avoiding any changes, and likely seen almost no depression emerge in the 1930s.

Some people have pointed out that Merkeling is a regular thing now in German schools, universities, business operations, and general matters of life.  It was here before Merkel came into office, and will be here for eternity.  In some ways, it works great.....like at the Mercedes assembly-line where the same car gets built every single day and no one gets in the middle to change something or improve it.  A kid might show Merkeling occurs in school with teachers just showing up to prove X number of hours of instruction and then leaving it to the kid to accept or fail.

When you hear Merkeling.....at least you will understand the concept.  And you probably will be able to name a dozen American political figures and businessmen who practice this routinely.