I don’t think the self-appointed defenders of representative democracy in Germany quite understand that it is them, and not the AfD or “right-wing extremists”, who are the real threat to democracy in Europe.
Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has called for a formal review that could pave the way for a ban on Alternative for Germany (AfD), as the right-wing party leads national polls following major regional election victories.
The push follows the AfD’s sweeping victories in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania earlier this month, where it secured 43.8% and 38.2%, respectively. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered heavy losses, including failing to clear the 5% threshold in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
On Tuesday, SPD parliamentary leaders from the Bundestag, Germany’s state legislatures and the European Parliament wrapped up a two-day summit in Bremen by again labeling the AfD a “right-wing extremist party.” They accused it of threatening democracy “from within” and “normalizing racism.” The push comes as the AfD has opened up a record polling lead over Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc. An INSA survey put the AfD at 29.5%, compared with 19% for the CDU/CSU and just 14.5% for the SPD.
Let’s get this straight. Democracy is supposedly legitimate because it is based on the will of the people. But if the people want something that the current political elite’s don’t, or if they don’t want something that the elite is forcing on them, then their will has to be opposed and their chosen representatives banned from government.
And this is why Aristotle and Cicero described politics as a circle over time. What the SPD represents is the modern form of oligarchy.