Religion & Liberty Online

Samuel Gregg on Germany’s populist surge

Following the election results in Germany this past Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected to serve for a fourth term.

In his article “Germany Revolts“, Samuel Gregg describes Chancellor Merkel’s party as being “woefully out of touch” with the German people, and as a result many are abandoning the CDU/CSU coalition for the AFD. Perhaps the most important lesson to glean from the election, Gregg says, is that Germany is increasingly reflecting frustrations felt elsewhere in Europe. The European political class and their media enablers stigmatize anyone who questions their preferred positions, driving voters to new parties, to groups willing to say what is otherwise regarded as “unsayable.”

As Merkel’s party continues to downplay injustices resulting from her “decision to open the door to almost one million Muslim migrants in 2015,” the AFD will continue to be the “repository of anger and resentment of many, varied Germans.”

Read Gregg’s whole piece here.

(Featured Photo: By א (Aleph) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons) 

 

Caroline Roberts

Caroline Roberts is a managing editor at the Acton Institute and produces Acton's weekly podcast, Acton Line.