History Rhyming

The decline of the center in Germany, as evidenced by last week’s German elections, (paywall free story without all the graphs and charts here) sounds rather familiar.

Like 1932 elections similar.

The neo Nazi AfD and the Left Party both picked up seats, the rather eclectic BSW party under performed and failed to gain any seats, the center-left SPD collapsed, while the center right CDU had their 2nd worst electoral performance ever.

It’s clear that German establishment are (IMNSHO correctly) being blamed for the current state of the German economy.

It’s also clear that the CDU’s attempt to pander on immigration did not help them against the AfD.

Once again, the inability of the political mainstream to see that the old ways are no longer work is juxtaposed with a crisis to create political instability.

To quote someone, almost certainly not Mark Twain, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes”