It's time

The year 2024 is only a few days old and I already have the first whiplash from shaking my head: Farmers' protests, Correctiv madness, demos against the "right", to name just a few examples. 

Never since the Second World War have so many people voluntarily taken to the streets in Germany to express themselves politically. Times of rule! Does anyone believe that anyone really wants to see right-wing or left-wing extremists in charge in this country?

I get it! In a society in which people have a lot of free time but few enduring values, they seek community and get lost in the happening culture. It doesn't matter whether stadiums fill up for the late Franz or ex-convict Uli politically wedges against some party at a memorial service or whether a supposed Munich left-wing extremist seduces thousands of people to get behind her at the "counter-right happenings" she organizes. 

Men and women want to be on the right side, applauding for something good and not just working on self-optimization for Insta posts on the stepper. 

We humans are social beings and want to belong. It is difficult to find our bearings in these times. What is easy, however, is the division into two camps - here the supposedly good, there the supposedly bad. The cheapest Wild West hams work like this. 
Does nobody see that?

What I perceive does not necessarily have to be true. But I see a government and its environment that is directing and dividing into good and evil. Healing instead of rushing would be the order of the day.

A society that has adopted democratic rules must be able to join hands. And it needs a critical and functioning government opposition as a regulator, as a supervisory body. However, if an opposition that critically accompanies the government's work does not exist or is even demonized, then democracy as such is in danger in this country. 

A government must respect and accept an opposition. If prominent members of a governing party refer to the opposition parties as a "pile of shit", they are not worthy of government responsibility and have lost their intellectual edge.

If a third of the citizens eligible to vote in this country perceive the parties in Germany in the spectrum between left, green, red and black only as block parties and these citizens articulate their displeasure about this, then it is dishonest, even dangerous, to use the hackneyed term "right-wing" here to discredit and condemn this constantly growing critical mass of people.

Every political and journalistic voice that reflects on government work, accompanies it critically and questions it is a good, healthy voice - in a functioning democracy. 
Any voice that attempts to suppress or even demonize critical voices with propaganda techniques and the support of non-governmental organizations is a dangerous voice - for or against democracy. 

In an enlightened society, nobody seriously wants to give radicalism in political action a majority in this country, whether on the left or right of the political spectrum.

But many people in this country want transparency and the maximum possible degree of truthfulness. And the chancellor's office and other ministries should be filled with people who are friends of the people in their own country (and who can still remember their actions). The citizens of Germany are longing for peacefulness and decency instead of aggression and contempt. It is dangerous for cohesion in this country if the representatives elected by the people have no respect for the people, for the voters who have given them their office and their bread and butter. 

When the votes given in trust by citizens of this country to other citizens - the so-called representatives of the people - are misused to steer the destinies of these citizens elected to office in order to elevate themselves above those who have made it possible for them to hold office, to bully them, to discredit them, instead of listening to their fellow citizens with their real concerns, needs, wishes and criticism, the country begins to slide. 

We are sliding! 

If those responsible for government do not reach out to people who think differently in humility and the responsibility of the office entrusted to them, but instead diabolize them, then they are abusing the office entrusted to them for a limited period of time in order to divide instead of heal. 

If they do this consciously, they must leave as quickly as possible. 
If they do this out of incompetence, if they can't do any better, they must leave as quickly as possible. 

Never before have there been so many new parties, which are also an expression of a longing for change, as in these times. Never before in a long time has there been so little support for the government.

A government - and therein lies the particular responsibility of the German federal government and the parties it supports - must act empathetically, wisely and in a healing manner. It must try to unite the people despite all the worldly and digital challenges and not divide them perfidiously. 

Mr. Federal Chancellor, you have a great responsibility. Reach out your hands - to all sides. 

If you are unable to do so because you hope for further immunity, because you feel exhausted and too weak, have the human greatness in these difficult times and have the courage to make way for a reorganization of the people's representatives in this country. The time has come to restore decency and dignity to the office. 

You can make history by not forgetting this!