Why I cannot vote for Schroeder

200,000 Dead is Better than 20,000 Dead; German Leader declares Torture a Good Thing

Published on August 14, 2005 By Leauki In International

"Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work," Mr Schroeder told Social Democrats at the rally in Hanover, to rapturous applause from the crowd.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/08/14/top7.htm

The suffering the Angloamerican invasion of Iraq has ended has to be seen to be believed.

http://www.shianews.com/hi/articles/politics/0000374.php

Saddam Hussein's SS (why not use the historical term) killed thousands, no, tens of thousands. I have not seen such images since I read a book "The Yellow Star" which my parents have an early copy of.

http://www.buch.de/buch/01538/895_der_gelbe_stern.html

Iraq's history during Saddam's reign is now well-documented.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saddam%27s_Iraq

There is no excuse for not knowing about it and I cannot see how downplaying Saddam's crimes or declining to mention them is different from holocaust denial (which is illegal in Germany).

The Iraq Body Count Web site is a left wing publication giving the numbers of victims of the invasion as roughly 27,000.

http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

They count all victims since the invasion as victims of the invasion, regardless of who or what killed them and why. Their point is that the invasion was a humanitarian disaster. They so obviously ignore the pre-invasion history, it's not even ironic. Holding the position this Web site holds in quite legal in Germany, because Arab fascists appear to enjoy a special status German fascists do not enjoy. Personally, I don't care what nationality my opressor has. And it also doesn't matter whether the victims are Jewish or Kurds or Shi'ite Arabs. But the left sees a difference.

I am a German citizen and even though I don't live in Germany any more, I am eligible to vote in the upcoming elections. I still have an address in Berlin, but if I didn't, I would be wondering how they determine in which constituency my vote should count. Either way, the German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has called for an early election. He is now likely to be replaced as chancellor by the conservative Angela Merkel (from the east, a woman, with a degree in science).

Six parties are poised to send MPs to the federal parliament: Gerhard Schroeder's own Social Democrats (SPD), his coalition partner, the Green party (B90, don't ask), the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the Bavarian Christian Democrats (CSU), the Liberal Democrats (FDP), and a new left wing party formed of the east German socialists and west German Social Democrat dissidents (PDS). The latter advocate high minimum wages and a 32-hour week mandated by law.

I grew up in a Social Democrat/Liberal Democrat family. I have since become a neo-conservative in many ways.

Now the gist of this rant is that I cannot vote for Gerhard Schroeder or vote for any party that might possibly help him in any way.

A man who considers free elections and a vast reduction in deaths and torture victims to be evidence that something didn't work, cannot be a good leader.

I do not hold it against Schroeder that he opposed the invasion. It was his privilege and his right. But to claim that the invasion didn't work, in the face of evidence from Iraq now and Iraq then is, to me, the moral equivalent of holocaust denial.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Aug 14, 2005

I have since become a neo-conservative in many ways.

I would have never guessed! Are you serious tho about him being replaced? Like Blair and Chirac, it seems that is almost impossible to get rid of West European leaders these days.

Leauki

on Aug 14, 2005

It is very likely that he will lose. He is not popular in Germany. However, that is not because of his opposition to the invasion or his support for the most inhuman dictatorships. It's just that most of his voter base do not consider him left-wing enough. He is too conservative for them. Many of his voters are expected to vote Socialist instead.

On the other hand the conservatives and liberals (that's "liberal" in the original or European sense) are prone to insulting east Germans (although supporting an east German woman as possible chancellor). It could cost them the election.

I sometimes wonder where German conservative voters actually come from. There don't seem to be many, it's more of a silent majority. Most German conservatives are also opposed to the war, but do not usually go as far as making it their main point that the invasion was morally wrong or that the results are horrible. They instead attack Schroeder's economic policies (and rightly so). Many people in Germany also oppose Schroeder's alliance with the French and prefer the British socialist Blair over the French conservative Chirac (as do I, incidentally).

I will vote liberal (I am still a member of the German Liberal Democrats party).

Dr Guy

on Aug 14, 2005

I will vote liberal (I am still a member of the German Liberal Democrats party).

That is the European liberal? As in the conservative side of the spectrum?

Leauki

on Aug 14, 2005

The German Liberal Democrats are, in the spectrum described above, the second-most conservative party, and the closest to a neo-conservative party, although they also support many left-wing positions (but now mainly those also supported by neo-conservatives).

Unfortunately their youth (which I once belonged to) are very boring and statist.

Dr Guy

on Aug 14, 2005

Unfortunately their youth (which I once belonged to) are very boring and statist.

isn't that the truth for all political youths? (or as they say in New York, Yutes). The only reason I even bothered to become a socialist (in College) was because of the girl! But they were worse than boring.

Leauki

on Aug 14, 2005

Among the Young Liberals I discovered a static leftism I did not even perceive from left wing parties.

And when they suddenly became pacifists, I lost interest. I also moved away from Germany last year, of course.

Leauki

on Oct 19, 2005

Quoting myself:

It is very likely that he [Schroeder] will lose. He is not popular in Germany. However, that is not because of his opposition to the invasion or his support for the most inhuman dictatorships. It's just that most of his voter base do not consider him left-wing enough.

And it seems I nailed it then.

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