I'll Bet Hillary Doesn't Like this One

I remember a whole lot was made of Forbes magazine publishing a favorable article about Mrs. Bill Clinton, a.k.a. "The Senator formerly known as Rodham-Clinton". Well, Forbes has just put out it's list of 100 of the world's most powerful women. At the top of the list is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who happens to be a -- brace yourself, gentle reader -- a conservative. That's right. The first woman Chancellor of Germany was a member of Helmut Kohl's cabinet. Why is this significant?

Well, from post WWII to 1989, East Germany was part of the Soviet bloc. When reunification took place, there were two very different socio-economic structures that had to become one again. West Germany had a healthy, capitalist economy. East Germany, under Soviet control, had a failing command economy with its citizens dependent on the government for subsistence. With the two halves put together, you had the former East Germans wanting a government safety net for their day-to-day needs, and former West Germans wanting their eastern compatriots to rise above their situation and assimilate into the western lifestyle. The government's process of reunifying took a couple of years. The socio-economic reunification was much slower, as evidenced by the Christian Democratic Union getting voted out of power in 1998.

The election of 1998 led to Gerhard Schroder, a member of the Socialist Democratic Party, becoming Chancellor. The SPD (the initials in German) ideologically embraces Marxism and the nationalization of industry, the very same economic theory that drove the Soviet Union into the ground (actually, it was that and the fact that Reagan wasn't a pansy). The rise of the SPD was a setback to the economic recovery of reunified Germany because they expanded government programs, and increased taxes to support this expansion. Look what happened when Germany joined the EU; on paper, they looked stable enough to be members without dragging the Euro down. Upon closer inspection (without the rose-colored glasses), one could see that a nation with a 30-hour work week and 40% income tax rate was not going to be as healthy as it let on. Seeing their lots unimproved, the German people spoke with their ballots and returned conservatives to head the government.

With all of the limp-wristed, weak-kneed featherheads we have in charge on this side of the pond, we may have to go through what Germany experienced before we as a nation get our heads back on straight. A lot of people don't how good we really have it. Does that mean there's not room for improvement? Hell no, it doesn't. Read my previous posts if you think that I'm satisfied with the status quo. The changes we need to make are not for the faint of heart; they require leadership, not focus-grouping. The initiative needs to come not just from our elected officials, but from each of us. We need to quit waiting on somebody else to make our decisions and stop buying into the idea that concensus makes everything alright. I would hope that after electing liberals to power in Congress, and seeing the aftermath, the American people wouldn't make the same mistake twice. It is time for there to be more strong men and women, both in government and in our everyday lives.