Angela Merkel to run for 4th term as Chancellor, politician says

[Slant]

I've only heard bad things about her. How she opened the floodgates to the refugees and how that led to an increase in violent crimes and rape.

Also this:



But the websites i frequent are heavily biased towards her so what do I know?

Dont listen to blogshitpages. They dont get a vote. The majority of the voters is quite satisfied with the way things are.

[Noradin]

What I mean by "detached from reality" is that a person who has been in the government for 16 years has forgotten what it is like to be a common citizen, and they start forgetting what problems common citizens actually face. When you've been speaking for the whole country for 16 years, you don't know any more what it is like to be someone working on a fishing market and barely scrapping enough money to feed their family. You don't make the decisions people actually need from you, you make the decisions based on your image of a common citizen, which is very different from the actual image.

I suspect that even after 20 years of office Merkel would have more of an idea about the common citizen than Trump (and most other US presidents) ever had, so that argument falls flat.

[May90]

I suspect that even after 20 years of office Merkel would have more of an idea about the common citizen than Trump (and most other US presidents) ever had, so that argument falls flat.

Since when do we hold Trump as a golden standard? Trump is at the very bottom of the pit, having a better idea about the common citizen than he has is hardly an achievement.

[Noradin]

Since when do we hold Trump as a golden standard? Trump is at the very bottom of the pit, having a better idea about the common citizen than he has is hardly an achievement.

What about the other part of that quote?
Do you think the other recent presidents remember what it is like to be a "common citizen"?
Do you think they ever knew?

[Slant]

Since when do we hold Trump as a golden standard? Trump is at the very bottom of the pit, having a better idea about the common citizen than he has is hardly an achievement.

Merkel is pretty down to earth, as far as recent leaders go. She just did a bit of a 180°. Now, some people call it flip flopping, while you criticise her for being detached from reality and having no connection to the common people.

I say either one is wrong. She's good at one thing, and one thing only. Compromising and generally steering Germany on a safe path through pretty much every fuckup of recent history in Europe. Whatever crisis happened somewhere, we came out on top somehow. That's not an accident, that's by design. Of course, polemics would now correctly point out that she only does what the people want so she gets reelected. Guess what, that's what democracy is about. She understood the system more than other people did.

[Ravenblade]

I've only heard bad things about her. How she opened the floodgates to the refugees and how that led to an increase in violent crimes and rape.

Most people from outside rarely get the full picture of a country and their leaders. Unfortunately with the advent of social media people have unlearned to question sources and their credibility and the nature of their content hence why stuff like Germany having Venezuelan levels of crime, Earth being flat and forests not existing are flourishing and gaining momentum these days. A lot people from Germany criticising Merkel have done so since ages while I could swear some people criticizing her now have until not too long praised her for her hardline stance on many issues that had a far greater impact on the EU than what happened the last two years.

As for that flick where she "hates her country!!!111elevenhundredeleven": Actually the background is as following. It was the evening of the election day, the message just came through that her party won the absolute majority, people from her staff were so happy to spontaneously celebrate it and they sung and danced (actually to a song from Die Toten Hosen - a punk band, can you believe it), someone from the audience brought a flag to her general secretary Gröhe and Merkel wasn't happy that the solemnly serious event turned into juvenile disco party. So she took the flag out of his hands and tried to instill some discipline into her senior staff again. That's the story. Even though the whole thing was ridiculous it was hardly (Jewish - if you can believe some far-right Russian blogs about it) hate against Germany but rather her anger about old people acting like teenagers after their fav soccer team has won.

[Slant]

Most people from outside rarely get the full picture of a country and their leaders. Unfortunately with the advent of social media people have unlearned to question sources and their credibility and the nature of their content hence why stuff like Germany having Venezuelan levels of crime, Earth being flat and forests not existing are flourishing and gaining momentum these days. A lot people from Germany criticising Merkel have done so since ages while I could swear some people criticizing her now have until not too long praised her for her hardline stance on many issues that had a far greater impact on the EU than what happened the last two years.

As for that flick where she "hates her country!!!111elevenhundredeleven": Actually the background is as following. It was the evening of the election day, the message just came through that her party won the absolute majority, people from her staff were so happy to spontaneously celebrate it and they sung and danced (actually to a song from Die Toten Hosen - a punk band, can you believe it), someone from the audience brought a flag to her general secretary Gröhe and Merkel wasn't happy that the solemnly serious event turned into juvenile disco party. So she took the flag out of his hands and tried to instill some discipline into her senior staff again. That's the story. Even though the whole thing was ridiculous it was hardly (Jewish - if you can believe some far-right Russian blogs about it) hate against Germany but rather her anger about old people acting like teenagers after their fav soccer team has won.

You know nobody will believe you, because that story is rather boring, don't you? I mean, I agree with you, but these kids only want one thing, drama and spectacle! The only thing better than Merkel as a nazi (or alternatively as a communist trying to destroy Germany) would be if Hitler actually resurrected and came back as Zombie Hitler. I shit you not, that's the only thing they'd love more than a dramatic story in which Merkel is Satan personified.

[Ravenblade]

You know nobody will believe you, because that story is rather boring, don't you? I mean, I agree with you, but these kids only want one thing, drama and spectacle! The only thing better than Merkel as a nazi (or alternatively as a communist trying to destroy Germany) would be if Hitler actually resurrected and came back as Zombie Hitler. I shit you not, that's the only thing they'd love more than a dramatic story in which Merkel is Satan personified.

I swear every time I google for Merkel or see her image appearing on Facebook the epithets given to her get longer and longer that she must already feel ennobled. Jewish Reptilian Rothschild Zombie Nazi Queen Merkel conceived by Satan and Ctulhu over a million years ago. You could think: no, nobody would believe it. Unfortunately that's even the agenda on which many people draw their hatred from. It can't get anymore convoluted and ideologically disoriented than this.

However that's the real story behind this "Merkel throws flag away" flick being echoed over the internet in different versions and a classic example how social media have a very transformative effect on people where they are not interested in the truth any more but rather take the face value of what's been presented. The real story is boring but that's what it is. However anything you record can be altered to fit one's sinister agenda. It's very modern in Germany to invent Green or Left politicians at the moment and subscribing some quotes to them or even better have actual politicians or people with stuff they never said, yes, even Trump has been shown with false quotes. As an oldschool guy I feel totally out of place sometimes seeing the new generation forming our new political "culture". Very concerning the least.

[Azgraal]

Sounds good!
I can't wait to see how much more good Chancellor Merkel can do in another term. She needs to continue being a leader in the response to the refugee crisis and taking severe action on any EU states that do not want to cooperate with Germany.

That bolded part is precisely why she should be taken out of power. A) we should stop for a minute and deal with the huge amount of refugees we've already taken in, and b) she doesn't rule the EU, she can go choke on a bratwurst instead of trying to control other sovereign nations.

[Macaquerie]

I don't understand the hate that people have for Merkel. Sure, the way she has handled the refugee crisis hasn't been perfect but are you really going to put some ultra-nationalist wingnut in power on anti-immigrant platform and risk all the terrifying policies that could potentially come along with that? Just think about it like this, now that Obama is out and Trump is in, Germany is just about the only major world power left that has a leader who is generally respected around the world for strong and capable leadership. And that's a bigger deal than you might think, since foreigners usually don't bother worrying about your internal politics so there's not much partisan hackery involved with that.

[Nathanyel]

While I would suggest she doesn't run again and let someone else take over, it's not because I dislike her. The only real reason I dislike her is that she fell to popular demand (sic!) when she made her party turn around on the nuclear power question. The Nuclear Exit was already planned before, several years in the future, but Fukushima caused the public opinion to plummet.

Also this:

http://i.imgur.com/5ZfwLxr.gif

You need to realize that Germans don't love their flag like Americans do (don't really know about other countries in that regard, sorry)
The average citizen basically only uses it during the World/European Soccer Championship. Waving it around without context may even be seen as nationalistic, which is (luckily) still regarded as negative by the majority.

I don't know the context of this scene, but I assume she saw the flag being passed around as a distraction, not being on point of whatever they're celebrating.

[Nathreim]

Imagine 4 terms of Trump... The horror.

Seriously, why is there no limitation to the number of chancellor terms in Germany?

You would think after WWII they would have learned better.

[Macaquerie]

What I don't get is, why do people blame Merkel for everything that happens in the EU these days? Has Germany so effectively monopolized power in the continent that the other countries have no ability to act without German permission, or is it just that their leaders are too weak and indecisive to actually do anything meaning that Merkel is forced to pick up the slack for everyone else?

[Nathanyel]

You would think after WWII they would have learned better.

Technically, Hitler was only elected twice. The first time, that was after many opposing politicians had been intimidated or encarcerated, and by the second time, there was no opposition left.

[Nathreim]

Technically, Hitler was only elected twice. The first time, that was after many opposing politicians had been intimidated or encarcerated, and by the second time, there was no opposition left.

True but still. We had FDR and while he was good hardly a dictator and we still realized it was a bad idea to allow any one person to just keep running and winning.

When people consolidate enough power to the point its nearly impossible to get the out they tend to stop serving the people and start serving themselves. Looking at you Congress.

[Slant]

As an oldschool guy I feel totally out of place sometimes seeing the new generation forming our new political "culture". Very concerning the least.

This is indeed a bit concerning. You know, I often think "I'm so glad the old generation isn't influenced by the internet half as much as my generation is" and then I remember that they'll die out eventually. I hope our generation learns to be critical and think for themselves before that happens, otherwise Trump is just a preview on how internet trolling can influence elections. Remember the times when people on here say "I'm glad you don't run a country, a forum poster without any responsibility"? It may come to that if this trend continues... kind of.

[Deleted]

You would think after WWII they would have learned better.

Elaborate please.

Nevermind, you already did. I still don't see the issue - Germany has more than two actively running parties that could very well have an influence on the outcome. If people are fed up with Merkel they can vote for others and actually cause things to change.

[Nathanyel]

In FDR's defense, WWII forced the US to ignore that yet unwritten rule. And once the war was over, they were quick to bring in the 22nd Amendment.

When people consolidate enough power to the point its nearly impossible to get the out

Unless the constitution and other laws are changed (which Hitler did) it's very easy to vote for another candidate. Modern German politicians don't campaign with promises to pursue and incarcerate their opponents. Elections in modern Germany are not followed by an increase of attacks on the 'enemies' of the winning party. Not even the two Bush wins had that.
I'd rather say that multiple terms mean that the majority is pleased with the government, the president/chancellor.

I agree that it's a bad thing we have a Grand Coalition now, either the CDU or the SPD needs to be in the opposition to provide a counterweight, to offer protest-voters a legitimate choice. Sadly, neither of them was able to form a government with their traditional third-party allies in the last election, which ironically strengthened the very cause of that (far right movements scooping up dissatisfied voters) and led to a new far right party gaining traction in the following regional polls.

[zenkai]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/wo...l-germany.html

[Slant]

I agree that it's a bad thing we have a Grand Coalition now, either the CDU or the SPD needs to be in the opposition to provide a counterweight, to offer protest-voters a legitimate choice. Sadly, neither of them was able to form a government with their traditional third-party allies in the last election, which ironically strengthened the very cause of that (far right movements scooping up dissatisfied voters) and led to a new far right party gaining traction in the following regional polls.

The amusing bit about this is that the CDU was too successful that campaign. Remember? They almost got the 50%? That's how freaking popular they and especially Merkel were at the time. Unfortunately for them, they stole the votes of their junior partner, FDP, and thus forced them out of Parliament, giving them not viable alternative but to a grand coalition with the other big party that only got like 25% of the votes or so (I don't remember the exact percentiles). If CDU had only gotten 40% and made a coalition with FDP, they'd have had more power than with their 49%. It's so funny how that one turned out... :P

Edit: Uhhh, it seems I misremember the figures massively. But I'm fairly certain at some stage people were speculating if CDU could rule on their own. I clearly remember that! :P