Right wing is all about property protections, corporate interests and bank lobbies + upper class protection. Cultural stuff is just a distraction. Even average left wing nationalism (like the pan-arabist ones) protects local cultures better than profit driven right wing that only cares about “muh property and hierarchy” things.
AfD is one of the main reasons why I am not sure whether Germany will be where I want to live in the future.
To assuage you a bit. The AfD is a paper tiger inflated by the media. I’m not saying there is no chance for them to ever reach power, but right now it’s not very likely. They lack something important: competent people in local politics. They don’t care about local politics, they often lack the shoes to fill posts, or have people nobody likes, or have people whose only competence is to wail on immigrants.
“Shitty candidate who only gets taken seriously because of the media coverage” is a trap many of my fellow Americans fell into in 2016. Don’t make the same mistake we did and stomp them out while you have the chance.
You’re correct, but current Germany’s democracy is way more robust than US was. A party can’t just rise to power with the power of bullshit, not quickly anyway. A party has to play with others, it is almost impossible to have all the power, so crazy people can’t just usurp the country. AfD tries to appear less crazy than they are, but the evil shines through, so nobody wants to play ball with them
We’re lucky that the allies did such a wonderful job of correting their own mistakes and making our system more robust after WW2 (not /s, seriously good job).
Yeah, it’s a shame that they did such a good job in Germany but weren’t able to import it back to their own countries. Imagine if it was as hard for right wing populists to get the power in the US, Russia, UK…
And yet they’re very present on the federal stage.
Yeah, they have to be. Else the media propping up a tiny party of the rich as party of the small man wouldn’t work half as good.
I meant they’re polling at 20% of a Bundestag. They’re more represented than some of the more traditional parties. They have supporters.
Old news. Those elections were weeks ago.
yeah but i needed the dopamine hit so its cool
Yes, but that is one battle out of many more to come in a war. The AfD has to be decisively defeated and must stamped out for good, and destroy the source of sustenance for its hydra body to prevent another rise of fascism.
The source? Well I’ve always suspected some of that is Russia. MAGA too, but they get a load Russian support too. I think it’s online bot farms as much as just out right corruption/donations/lobbying. When Ukraine defeats Russia, I wonder what knockons it will have.
The rise of populist right stems from genuine frustrations on ruling elites and politicians. Russia isn’t the cause, they only stoked the fire. And even if Russia collapses, the Pandora’s box is already opened. The only way for the far right movements to be tempered is for politicians to actually do their jobs as sworn public servants.
I think it doesn’t matter. There are so many far right parties all over the world, all of them normalizing the narrative, that it will take ages to revert. This envi can be easily exploited. It’s an absolutely illogical clusterfuck.
It very much does matter. Without the troll farms and the social media that amplify them, the current far right parties would never have been as successful. Just ask any of their voters where they get their information from.
Just ask any of their voters where they get their information from.
OK, have you? Because it just seems like you’re huffing your own farts while decrying the other guy huffing his own farts. What credible evidence do you have for 1) who the voters are, 2) where they’re getting their information from?
And what information would you consider credible to see what these mythical voters that you claim to know personally think?
!Without the troll farms and the social media that amplify them, the current far right parties would never have been as successful.!< Fully agree, but now social media and troll farms and the necessary infrastructure is there. I sure hope it reverts without Russia, but I suspect, that other players will take over.
69% is a strong result. 30% still voted for the fascist, but perhaps in those parts of Germany this is a relatively encouraging outcome.
This is great news! No AfD! We don’t need corporate lapdogs willing to sell their neighbors out in power in this country. I know we have the CDU issue still, but AfD would be worse.
Vote progressive, tax wealth, eliminate hundred millionaires.
Why do you want to eliminate hundred millionaires?
TL,DR: Millionaires over something like 20 million dollars are unhealthy people, either by nature/nurture or by the inevitable corruption that isolating wealth causes. A good society would prevent that from happening, as that’s bad for its citizens and dangerous for its stability. Individuals with nearly no accountability shouldn’t have the power that comes with having 20+ million. Until everyone has 6 million dollars, no one should have 20+.
Full response: I think there’s an amount of money that removes you from the experience of your neighbors, that isolates you from your community, and that gives you more power than should be allowable in a democracy. I think people lose their humanity after a certain dollar amount (and of course they have to - can you imagine having everything you could ever need or want taken care of for the rest of your life and your families life and then NOT giving away the excess to friends and family and your city and charity) and I also think some people who lost their humanity because of systemic issues pursue money and power infinitely. In both cases I think an ideal society, a good society, would prevent that accumulation from ever happening - it would limit the amount of wealth a person or entity can have relative to its peers.
Where is that line? My initial comment said hundred millionaires, but you asked about millionaires so let me perform my thought process for you.
I know billion dollars is too much. You shouldn’t be able to count your wealth in the same units as small countries, that is wrong. If you can afford to rent a city or buy a government election or personally fund a NASA equivalent you have too much money and power.
I believe something like 6 million is fine. If you can make enough money to never have to work again, to provide for your family and pursue your dreams, I think that’s probably healthy for society. In fact I think that’s the goal for human society, to get to the point where everyone has everything they need and want satisfied so they can pursue whatever they’re feeling.
So between 6 million or so and 1 billion I know there’s a point where a person has too much money and every dollar of wealth should be taxed away. So let’s double one and half the other.
12 million is enough to earn 600k a year on 5% interest. 360 on 3%. Both conservative values. I’d say that’s at or approaching too much of a salary every year from doing nothing. Maybe that’s fine but I’ve clearly become uncomfortable with it. At 600k a year I could kickstart any project I have ever wanted to do and just see which one’s hit or miss. That’s on the cusp of okay with me. So maybe my value is somewhere between 10 and 20 million.
500 million is enough to earn 25 million on 5%. That’s definitively too much. If I could, by doing nothing, produce another person each year that I already think should be capped on wealth - I think that’s too much power for an individual with little accountability. That money must be redistributed.
I think if I continued this I’d find that 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25 million are all way too much by my standard. So I want to tax every millionaire above 10-20 million out of existence for their safety and the safety of society and, because like housing or holiday potlucks, no one should get 2 houses/rounds/permanent-livable-wages before everyone gets 1.
But knowing that the education systems in the western world have systemically produced people who believe millionaires are cool and okay, and especially people who haven’t thought about it long enough to form their own opinions on the matter, I tend to default to 100 million in online discourse because it is a number I think everyone can get behind.
Elect me your whatever and I guarantee to make everyone’s lives better proportional to the power I’m given :D - starting with the just and healthy redistribution of wealth.
Because nobody actually “earns” that much, they plunder it through unfortunately-legal abuse.
Billionaires? Sure. Millionaires though… Someone getting their company successful through a good idea, hard work and a great ton of luck can become a millionaire. People with a million € or $ are not the main problem really. There will always be richer and poorer people. The problem is that we have people with 1000+ million, and that these people are yet getting even richer by simply just having that wealth. The difference between a million and a billion is enourmous.
The difference between a million and a billion is about a billion.
You are right and I’m sure I can find more common ground with the guy that owns the local pizza shop.
But remember all buisness need to pay employees less than the value of what they produce. That is inherently exploitation
10% of a billion us dollars? That’s power not fit for a single human, distinct from a simple million dollars.
Over a two thirds majority for the winner, that’s an absolute spanking
That’s fantastic news!
Elmo is hopefully heartbroken
Jfc all we need is Nazi Germany. Good job!!!
