Were the German elections held this Sunday, CDU, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, would only get 30 percent of the vote, while the Social Democrats – their partners in the grand coalition – are already below 20 percent. Such a result for CDU would be its worst performance since the two Germanys were merged. When I was going through the figures a conversation from the TV show “The West Wing” popped into mind. In it political strategist Bruno Gianelli and Republican presidential contender Arnie Vinick have an argument, during which Bruno says: Don’t tell anyone, but I do respect the voters. That’s why I win. I find out what they care about. I don’t try to tell them what they care about. Vinick: That’s not exactly my idea of leadership. Bruno: No, but it’s my idea of democracy. In politics it is always difficult to navigate the fine line between leadership and the ideas of your voters. If a poll were enough to decide what needs to happen, a lot of people would be on death row, speed limits would be abolished and of course beer would be free. In other words, complete and utter chaos. But. When a party that was established in 2013 and went through a split just last year gets 15 percent in a poll, you had better start thinking about serving your voters better. I’m talking about the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfG), which – as of May 1, 2016 – is officially an anti-Islam party. This is what you get for not listening and for pushing an agenda disliked by a large majority of your citizens. And this could get even worse. A poll conducted by German public broadcaster ARD revealed that 59 percent are dissatisfied with Merkel’s handling of the refugee crisis. According to the ARD, the reason her support did not drop any further is because the crisis still does not affect people’s daily lives. But as soon as it does, AfG will gain even more support and who knows where it will stop. And the last thing we need in Germany is for an anti-religion party to become a significant force in the Bundestag. I seem to remember something like this happening a few decades ago and, if memory serves right, nothing good came of that.
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