Europe’s economic powerhouse, the country of Germany, is foundering. Its economy is in the tank. It needs to find its mojo, and quickly. The great and historic culture of Germany has driven much of Europe’s prosperity for decades as its continental locomotive, because its people are intelligent, well-educated and industrious. But it is being suffocated by guilt, liberalism and regulations.
Let me stipulate at the outset that I acknowledge the historical crimes of Nazism. My late father, a German-speaking US 7th Army intelligence officer in World War II, interrogated many Nazi Party officials and senior Wehrmacht officers, including not a few insufferable, fanatical SS officers. His fascinating war-time career was recounted in two books he published, Discovering the Rommel Murder: The Life and Death of the Desert Fox and A Ramble Through My War: Anzio and Other Joys. I speak as one who heard many stories of the crimes perpetrated by Germany in the last century from someone who saw it up close and personal.
That said, I am of German stock, like much of the American populace. My ancestors hailed originally from the German state of Swabia (Schwaben, in German), before they emigrated to a German-speaking village in Hungary in the 18th century. And from there to America in the early 1900s. My grandparents all spoke German, which was also the first language of both my parents, who were born in America. I am a German language hobbyist myself and my kids all studied the language. My son was an exchange student at a German military academy while he attended West Point.
This is all to say that I am proud of my German heritage and I appreciate German culture. Prior to its descent into hell under Hitler, Germany was arguably the most scientifically, culturally and artistically advanced country in the world. It produced Ludwig van Beethoven, Albert Einstein and Johannes Kepler, to name but a few of countless geniuses Germany has generated in all fields of endeavor.
There is a unique drive, spirit and discipline within German culture that has enabled its people to realize tremendous achievements. Indeed, it was largely German scientists who were spirited to America after World War II that were crucial to the development of both the American space and nuclear weapons programs. Their work in rocketry and missile technology was considered so vital to American intelligence that an entire operation was mounted (Operation Paperclip) in World War II to locate them and their research, and bring them to the United States, resulting in 1,600 German scientists, engineers and technicians being resettled in America.
Today, Germany is riven politically, just as we are, and on similar issues. Unchecked immigration into Germany by culturally dissimilar migrants is fueling much resentment among the native German population. Horrific terroristic attacks by Islamist migrants have inflicted numerous casualties, largely with vehicles and knives, among German innocents in the last several years.
Just as Americans are continually beaten over the head by “progressive” historians and Hollywood producers over the institution of slavery that disappeared from America in 1865, German society is suffused with guilt over the crimes of a mostly-gone generation. No Germans alive today were in leadership positions during the tenure of the Third Reich, and very few Germans remain who were even adults by the war’s end in 1945. Yet, Germans are forever on tenterhooks lest they be labelled “Nazis” or “far-right” (notwithstanding that the Nazi party was a socialist party – the name is on the tin. Nazi stands for National Socialist German Workers’ Party.)
Germans have been arrested, and in some cases gone to prison, for having a Hitler ringtone on their cell phone, giving a perceived Nazi salute, and for posting “Nazi-era imagery” on social media. Are these things in bad taste? Of course. Should they be condemned by the greater society? Absolutely. That’s why all societies have norms of behavior and social mores. But are they worthy of taking away a person’s liberty? Not in a society that calls itself liberal democratic, in which people have the right to be stupid.
My point is that Germany needs to focus on its future, and not be shackled to shameful periods in its past. While not forgetting its history, in order to ensure it does not repeat its worst transgressions, it needs to unleash the creative potential within the society that produced so many of the aforementioned geniuses.
The second suffocating element besides guilt that is preventing Germany from realizing its great potential, “liberalism” (which is hardly liberal in the classical sense), is seeing its fortunes wane. The right-of-center Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is about to take over the chancellorship from the failed administration of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SDP). While this is good news, the new chancellor in waiting, Friedrich Merz, has already said that he will not form a coalition government with the other major conservative party, Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), even though the AfD recently received 20 percent of the vote in national elections.
The AfD has been maligned continuously in the popular press as “far-right,” although in America, its positions would be considered fairly mainstream conservative. The AfD’s manifesto calls for, among other things, a “lean government for free citizens.” Oh, the horror! It also calls for “restrict[ing] career politicians by limiting the tenure of office.” Hardly the stuff of fascism. And they also want to “curtail lobbyism.” We should adopt that policy in Washington.
Finally, there is the issue of regulations, which suffocates not only Germany, but all member states of the European Union. That was the primary reason that Great Britain finally left the EU via their Brexit initiative.
Germany needs a strong chief executive. Unfortunately, the parliamentary democracies of Europe produce inherently weak chief executives, because of the necessity to build coalition governments. The prime ministers can be undone by any coalition party becoming disaffected. This stands in contrast to the federalist form of government, with an inherently strong executive branch and president, that the genius framers of the American republic devised in 1789.
That is not to say that it is impossible for parliamentary democracies to produce a strong chief executive. The great “Iron Lady” of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher, proved that, as did Winston Churchill. Similarly, there is no guarantee that the United States will produce a strong chief executive. The election of the utterly corrupt, semi-catatonic Joe Biden is proof of that. He was the very embodiment of fecklessness.
Donald Trump is the exemplar of a vigorous president and what our system is capable of producing. He is the polar opposite of Joe Biden. Now Germany must locate a similar no-nonsense, business-oriented, strong chancellor who can help restore Germany’s mojo.
William F. Marshall has been an intelligence analyst and investigator in the government, private, and non-profit sectors for 38 years. He is a senior investigator for Judicial Watch, Inc., and has been a contributor to Townhall, American Thinker, Epoch Times, The Federalist, American Greatness, and other publications. His work has been featured on CBS News 48 Hours Mysteries and NBC News Dateline. (The views expressed are the author’s alone, and not necessarily those of Judicial Watch.)