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IS THE GERMAN POPULATION PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?

by Dr. Heino Fassbender

In Germany the discussion about the production site has clearly gained quality, especially the economic analysis of the status quo. This is also increasingly valid for the factually logical derivation of adequate solutions. The first part of this essay is dedicated to this issue.

However, a completely different- and unfortunately fundamental- problem is getting more and more dramatic and constrains effective and in the face of the demographic sword of Damocles sufficient in time political answers: our democratic decision making process is trapped. Democratic decisions need majorities. Politicians usually decide with expected voters’ reactions in mind. They have an image of the voters. Not the people, but this perception of the people determines the solution space in a representative democracy. The trap is: If the elected have a wrong perception of the electors, good politics are hindered- in this case reformatory policies for sustainable improvement of the location in time. If the politicians had a better perception of the voters, their solution space would increase. If the elected knew better where the voters stand and what they want, better politics were feasible.

Hence it is essential to reduce misconceptions. Therefore, in the second part of this paper we will illustrate which surprising impression of the Germans we got in the last years with “Perspektive Deutschland”, the probably worldwide largest online-survey regarding socio-political questions of our times (www. perspektive-deutschland.de). Already at this point the answer to the question raised in the title will be anticipated: we have rediscovered our fellow countrymen- as human beings, who are by the majority not part of the problem, but want to be and are able to be part of the solution. Neither are the people in this country a problem, but presumably the politicians. It is dramatic that in this critical situation they have the wrong image of the German population, which is characterized by minorities and hammered home by the media, in mind when they consider possible solutions.