Opinion by
Max Boot
Columnist
Yesterday at 3:10 p.m. EDT
Imagine that we lived in an alternative universe where Republican George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1980 and stayed in office until 1996. He was then followed by Democrat Michael Dukakis for two terms. Then, for the next 16 years, Republican Mitt Romney was in office. And finally, in 2020, Romney was succeeded by his vice president — Democrat Joe Biden. In this universe, our politics would be more boring — and a lot more sane and sensible.
That, roughly, is what Germany has achieved. Helmut Kohl of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was chancellor from 1982 to 1998. He was followed by Gerhard Schroeder of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1998 to 2005. For the past 16 years, Germany has been led by the CDU’s Angela Merkel, governing for most of that time in coalition with the SPD.
Chancellor Merkel — who makes Romney look like the life of the party by comparison — leaves office with higher approval ratings than any other world leader. She has reduced the German unemployment rate, maintained stability and successfully navigated challenges such as a euro-zone debt crisis in 2009, a massive influx of refugees in 2015 and a coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Little wonder that the leaders of the CDU and SPD were competing over who would be seen as her heir.
The winner, by a hair, in Sunday’s balloting was the SPD’s Olaf Scholz, who served as Merkel’s vice chancellor and finance minister for the past three and a half years. He marketed himself as “Angela the second,” right down to making the same diamond-shaped hand gesture as Merkel. His chief challenger, the CDU’s Armin Laschet — who might still be able to form a governing coalition with smaller parties — was just as dull. “It’s Election Season in Germany,” a New York Times article noted. “No Charisma, Please!”
Germany has its own political extremists — right-wingers who oppose coronavirus vaccines, warn of election fraud involving Dominion Voting Systems (even though its machines are not used in Germany) and embrace QAnon conspiracy theories. Their views are represented in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which in 2017 became the third-largest party in the Bundestag. But the mainstream parties refused to have anything to do with it, and it never came close to power. In Sunday’s election, AfD’s vote share slipped from 13 percent to 10.5 percent, reducing it to the fifth-largest party. What a contrast to the United States, where a right-wing extremist — Donald Trump — was elected president and where his followers still dominate one of the two major parties.
Little wonder that sane, stolid Germany does so much better on “quality of life” indexes than the United States. To take but one example, Germany has about half as many covid deaths per 1 million residents, and the percentage of its population that is fully vaccinated is nine points higher.
Germany also has higher life expectancy than the United States. That may be connected to the fact that Germany has universal health coverage, and the United States doesn’t. Moreover, the murder rate in the United States is nearly six times higher than in Germany. (Only 1 percent of Germans own guns compared with roughly 30 percent of Americans.) The United States is slightly richer than Germany on a per capita basis, but Germany has considerably less income inequality while still being wealthy.
By any objective assessment, Germany is much better governed than the United States. The question is why. I would argue it’s due both to the preferences of German voters and the design of the German political system — factors that are obviously related.
Germany selects its leaders in a complex process where voters choose both a local constituency candidate and a political party list. The result is that chancellors take power after negotiations — now beginning — among the leaders of the top political parties. That puts a premium on centrist, consensual leadership and dilutes the political passions of the populace. In the United States, by contrast, the political parties are weak and subject to being hijacked by populist movements.
With their historical memories of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, German voters have a distrust of charismatic politicians. They don’t want leaders who excite them; they want leaders who will govern them competently. Americans, by contrast, want to be entertained by our politicians. We pay a heavy price for placing a premium on oratory over competence and novelty over experience.
In almost every U.S. presidential election, the more charismatic candidate wins. The last election was an exception only because the country had suffered so heavily under Trump’s mismanagement of covid-19. Even then, a shift of just 43,000 votes in three states could have given him a second term. Today, Trump retains his hammerlock on the GOP despite — or because of — his assault on democracy.
Germany has seen where anti-democratic movements led by charismatic outsiders can lead and has sensibly opted for competent technocrats instead. The United States has yet to learn that lesson. With our insatiable desire for political entertainment and escalating political polarization, our country appears to be sleepwalking toward disaster.
Max Boot
Columnist
Yesterday at 3:10 p.m. EDT
Imagine that we lived in an alternative universe where Republican George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1980 and stayed in office until 1996. He was then followed by Democrat Michael Dukakis for two terms. Then, for the next 16 years, Republican Mitt Romney was in office. And finally, in 2020, Romney was succeeded by his vice president — Democrat Joe Biden. In this universe, our politics would be more boring — and a lot more sane and sensible.
That, roughly, is what Germany has achieved. Helmut Kohl of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was chancellor from 1982 to 1998. He was followed by Gerhard Schroeder of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1998 to 2005. For the past 16 years, Germany has been led by the CDU’s Angela Merkel, governing for most of that time in coalition with the SPD.
Chancellor Merkel — who makes Romney look like the life of the party by comparison — leaves office with higher approval ratings than any other world leader. She has reduced the German unemployment rate, maintained stability and successfully navigated challenges such as a euro-zone debt crisis in 2009, a massive influx of refugees in 2015 and a coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Little wonder that the leaders of the CDU and SPD were competing over who would be seen as her heir.
The winner, by a hair, in Sunday’s balloting was the SPD’s Olaf Scholz, who served as Merkel’s vice chancellor and finance minister for the past three and a half years. He marketed himself as “Angela the second,” right down to making the same diamond-shaped hand gesture as Merkel. His chief challenger, the CDU’s Armin Laschet — who might still be able to form a governing coalition with smaller parties — was just as dull. “It’s Election Season in Germany,” a New York Times article noted. “No Charisma, Please!”
Germany has its own political extremists — right-wingers who oppose coronavirus vaccines, warn of election fraud involving Dominion Voting Systems (even though its machines are not used in Germany) and embrace QAnon conspiracy theories. Their views are represented in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which in 2017 became the third-largest party in the Bundestag. But the mainstream parties refused to have anything to do with it, and it never came close to power. In Sunday’s election, AfD’s vote share slipped from 13 percent to 10.5 percent, reducing it to the fifth-largest party. What a contrast to the United States, where a right-wing extremist — Donald Trump — was elected president and where his followers still dominate one of the two major parties.
Little wonder that sane, stolid Germany does so much better on “quality of life” indexes than the United States. To take but one example, Germany has about half as many covid deaths per 1 million residents, and the percentage of its population that is fully vaccinated is nine points higher.
Germany also has higher life expectancy than the United States. That may be connected to the fact that Germany has universal health coverage, and the United States doesn’t. Moreover, the murder rate in the United States is nearly six times higher than in Germany. (Only 1 percent of Germans own guns compared with roughly 30 percent of Americans.) The United States is slightly richer than Germany on a per capita basis, but Germany has considerably less income inequality while still being wealthy.
By any objective assessment, Germany is much better governed than the United States. The question is why. I would argue it’s due both to the preferences of German voters and the design of the German political system — factors that are obviously related.
Germany selects its leaders in a complex process where voters choose both a local constituency candidate and a political party list. The result is that chancellors take power after negotiations — now beginning — among the leaders of the top political parties. That puts a premium on centrist, consensual leadership and dilutes the political passions of the populace. In the United States, by contrast, the political parties are weak and subject to being hijacked by populist movements.
With their historical memories of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, German voters have a distrust of charismatic politicians. They don’t want leaders who excite them; they want leaders who will govern them competently. Americans, by contrast, want to be entertained by our politicians. We pay a heavy price for placing a premium on oratory over competence and novelty over experience.
In almost every U.S. presidential election, the more charismatic candidate wins. The last election was an exception only because the country had suffered so heavily under Trump’s mismanagement of covid-19. Even then, a shift of just 43,000 votes in three states could have given him a second term. Today, Trump retains his hammerlock on the GOP despite — or because of — his assault on democracy.
Germany has seen where anti-democratic movements led by charismatic outsiders can lead and has sensibly opted for competent technocrats instead. The United States has yet to learn that lesson. With our insatiable desire for political entertainment and escalating political polarization, our country appears to be sleepwalking toward disaster.
