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2. Ways out of the misery: Eventually dare the big change:
We certainly can’t escape this misery with small corrections of the status quo, but only with fundamental reforms. But what are the chances? Can a government in Germany, with votes in mind, generally bring about such a change, regardless of its nature? Or does the government need- as Brecht would put it- need different, new people first?

In fact, every government so far seems to hold the position that it can’t change much, because the electors don’t want it: this supposedly is a society which is used to being taken care of; at best, fun and using your elbows are selforganized. We have gained a distinctively different opinion since we started our expedition to the point of views and comprehensions of our fellow countrymen with Perspektive-Deutschland 2001. We saw people who have a refreshingly untarnished view of the problems, who have very constructive and critical attitudes toward their country and reflect a pleasantly clear consensus about the direction and target of the further development of their country, their society and economy; who are even willing for personal sacrifices and contributions. The problem is that the politicians still hold on to their biased image of the Germans, the way it is displayed in the media: marked by public perception of entitlement and convenience, not willing to perform, not committed. The course of 2004 seemed to affirm this image at first. Yet in the meantime the reactions of our fellow countrymen increasingly heard, which reflect understanding and constructive participation. This new image of the Germans becomes clearer and clearer. And the politicians have to acknowledge it. Only then can we can move forward, the governed and the government together.

Therefore, at this point an outline of the image of the “misconceived Michael”, his socio-psycho-gram, illustrated with the help of a triangle: three vertexes, which reflect an interesting stress ratio (figure 2).
> First of all, there is the intrinsic vertex. It describes which fundamental, and not on short notice changing, basic values and attitudes our fellow countrymen have: a, also in the international comparison, high level of basic satisfaction with life in Germany and place of residence. The Germans do not only like the landscape, but also their social relationships with each other. This explains the high level of satisfaction, while regional discrepancies are caused by the regional labor markets. The Germans are mostly performance-oriented, want to achieve something in life, if possible want to work and earn more, and would also rather be self-employed to a surprisingly high degree, if particular regulations and bureaucratic red tap weren’t in the way. On top of that they are also socially committed. The labels such as fun or elbow society, as frequently propagated through the media, are not valid for the majority of Germans.

> Unfortunately, the second vertex of our triangle that illustrates the current existential mood of our fellow countrymen, is negatively reserved. The fact that the people have considerable worries about their future is not even surprising: for example, three fourths of the people in this country expect a degradation of their financial future. It is therefore no wonder that domestic demand is so weak. However, the concurrence of fears on the one hand and the distrust on the other hand is really problematic. This distrust is especially targeted at the political institutions and the staff leaders. Almost 70% have no or hardly any trust in the existing political parties. 73% feel a clear vacuum of orientation. The people are afraid and don’t see the leadership that could guide them out of their troubles. > Again, the third vertex can be judged positively. From our point of view it is promising that there is a broad consensus about the direction throughout all fundamental groups of the population. 70% want “more market”, 9% tend to “more state”. The rest wants to basically retain the current status quo. Yet the majority of people object to “US-conditions”. Social justice and the pace of human change hold a higher value in Germany and Europe than in the US. There are distinct majorities for individual concrete topics concerning the future as well. The state run security systems, for example, are limited to basic security. At the end of 2003 some participants already stated, that they accept non-payed overtime work in order to secure their jobs. A willingness for reforms was signalled consistantly when the connections between problem-diagnosis and therapy are as comprehensible as the one between employee sacrifices and the potential for improvement and when it was clear that everybody had to make sacrifices.

If this image of the German citizens was clearer to politicians, they would recognize, that a much larger solution space was accessible. More distinct reformatory policies with the promise of curing the basic problems would then be seen as politically feasible. The fact that the “currency” of a politician in a democracy is the outcome on election night, must be accepted. In order to initiate change, one has to win elections. But when you listen closely to the people, a determined reformatory political platform seems capable of winning a majority.