Posted on 09/15/2005 7:29:19 AM PDT by wolf78
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Say it Slowly: 'Zukunftsangst'
By Gabor Steingart
Germany is haunted. My countrymen see ghosts everywhere as they go to the polls this Sunday.
Berlin - When neo-Nazis are elected to a regional parliament, many fear a resurgence of Hitler. When a left-wing splinter party gains strength, scores believe they see the ghost of communism. Because Angela Merkel, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, has proposed a larger dose of reform policy than Gerhard Schröder, the current chancellor, millions see her as the reincarnation of Maggie Thatcher. No wonder pollsters have found a level of fear in this election campaign that is greater than anything we've ever experienced since the war. A balance of terror has emerged: Fear of unemployment competes with fear of an overly radical fight against it. Empty state coffers cause the same horror as the budget cuts designed to overcome them. Some call for a serious increase in genetic research, which leads others reflexively to cringe.
Everyone is terrified of everyone. As if of its own accord, the word "fear" attaches itself to the word "future" -- Zukunftsangst permeates the German mind. Fear of reform, fear of stagnation, fear of a failure of democracy and now -- as the frantic climax of this collective neurosis -- the fear of a further growth of fear.
The result is political exhaustion on all sides. On Sunday, Europe's largest industrialized country will most likely elect the weakest of all postwar governments -- assuming the result even allows a government to be formed. If the Social Democrat Mr. Schröder wins, he will not be able to do much with his victory. During the campaign he moved far away from his own convictions in order to collect the disheartened and insecure.
(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...
Polls are the same no matter where they are.
No shit. Thatcher laid the ground work for turning Britian into the most financially properous country in Europe.
Ofcourse, the socialists don't want that. They want welfare, bloated pension benefits, high taxes, subsides, massive red tape on anyone wanting to start a business, and the government to always tell them what to do.
Do you mean that all polling being done is agenda driven, without any exceptions?
Hitler, Stalin and...Thatcher? Huh?
Socialism breeds a fearful population. Once they become fearful they are too afraid to change, thus it feeds on itself.
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