MAGA AND THE AfD
A Conservative Moment in the World
While the Left in the US struggles to slow down the massive changes Trump and Musk are leading, we’re not the only country trying to undo the damage that far Left principles have caused. The AfD (Alternative for Deutschland/Germany, a conservative party) achieved a voice in the German government. In the February 23 elections, the AfD came in second. It’s helpful to know that just like many elections in Europe, there are more than two parties vying for control. In cases like these, parties need to work together to get anything done, which often forces some odd alliances.
The Commonalities
A key factor in the German and our elections was immigration. Per the EU, there is no such thing as illegal immigration, but Germany has been overrun for many years, beginning to overwhelm the country in 2015 with the Syrian migration. Just like here, Germans complain about increasing crime, the demand for a larger welfare state to support these people and the complete lack of assimilation. Whole neighborhoods have been taken over and citizens fear to enter them. In Berlin, a more liberal-thinking city, Ronald Gläser, state representative, ran for a higher position in the Bundestag. “Overall, illegal immigration is the most important topic to all our people. You can’t go out at night. You can’t feel safe here anymore. You have to pay much more money for the welfare state.”
Sadly, and now, unfairly, the term Nazi is hurled at AfD supporters, just as so many conservatives, concerned about unfettered immigration are attacked. It is far more sensitive in Germany, as many people still feel guilt about the Holocaust, even as they weren’t born then, nor have ever harbored any wish to see Jews and other disfavored people tortured or killed.
Interestingly, Frank Behnke, a Green party supporter, also has issues with the kind of immigration they are seeing. He wants only high-skilled immigrants to be brought in, but is concerned with the quality he is seeing, their unwillingness to integrate with German culture and the rise in violent crime. He notes, “These areas are Muslim areas now…not normal German areas anymore.” Just as in the US, the link between unfettered migration and lawlessness is real.
Wokeness is also an issue getting many to support the goals of the AfD, as is true with MAGA. In response to why the Left is so supportive of Islamic culture, he said, “It’s power, just power, like in the US. If you want to get paid, be woke. This is what is happening in Berlin, too. This wokeism kills liberty.”
Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, just like many Democrats, initially tried to block the AfD from having a voice. But as voters began to be attracted to the AfD platform, the CDU tried to ally with the Social Democrats and the Greens with the goal of holding the course. But as with the US, more and more people are demanding change. They don’t want to stay on the CDU’s course.
Germans love order, and many harken back to the Kingdom of Prussia, which prized discipline and order. Others remember fondly the days of reunification, where West Germany brought the East under its design, just as many of us remember fondly the Reagan years. Prosperity and hope were prominent in both cases.
The Communist Threat
Both countries struggle with leading parties who wish to move towards socialism, though many remember what it was like when people were shot trying to escape East Germany. Gläser has a clear memory of those days and has hated socialism and communism since his childhood. As such, those who remember those bad days are opposed to the Social Democrats and Greens, as we find the hard Left to be on the wrong path.
Christian Buchholz, a former Berlin state parliament member, remembers
“woke” as coming from the ‘60’s cultural Marxism. “It’s the same thing that we have had here in Germany, but here in Germany, it has been combined with communist social ideas, with a cultural destruction,” he said.
The fear of communism/socialism was a factor in the rise of Trump and the AfD whose members admire Trump. “He has no fear to attack the wokeism, communism, leftism directly—straight, like a tank into the center,” Buchholz notes.
When JD Vance visited Munich in February, he had loads of admirers as he told them, “What no democracy—American, German or European—will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of being considered. Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for “firewalls.” You either uphold this principle or you don’t.”
Whose Fault Is It Anyway?
No German wants their children to be unaware of the past, nor do Americans wish to pretend our past didn’t happen either. We have many things to regret, but those alive had nothing to do with any of them. But conservatives are tired of being blamed and want no child to feel the guilt or feel they are oppressors simply because of history. We have to move forward from that while learning from it. Calling people Nazis is simply ignorant and shows that the name-caller has run out of valid arguments to support their beliefs.
The AfD is not in charge as yet, but has increasing influence, which the others parties need to not ignore. Change is spreading across the globe. The libertarian cost-cutting moves of Millei in Argentina show another popular and much-needed change. More and more people are seeing that the Left doesn’t care about them except when it’s time to vote. And they’re also beginning to remember the more prosperous time (pre-Covid), when Trump showed them how their lives could be better with less government and more freedom. Germany is on the move as well.
