Angela Merkel, retiree at 67
The most important politician in Europe in the 21st c. has finally retired, with disheartening consequences for herself, her party, maybe even her country & the EU—this is only typical of politics, since so few very successful politicians know when to retire. It's a melancholy fact of human affairs that piling success on success almost always leads to grief.
Last week, elections saw Merkel's party fall to new lows even though her popularity is undimmed. Since 2005, Merkel ran the country in various coalitions that seemed to confirm the End of History thesis: The “center” of German politics neither needed nor could tolerate alternatives. Whatever the vote, the governing classes wanted a grand coalition, given the various crises in Europe. The voters themselves could not bear anyone except Merkel, either. This is typical of Germany, which was run for most of its post-War history by one party, the Christian Democrats, mostly by three Chancellors, Adenauer, Kohl, & Merkel. Germans dislike elections, or at any rate, what they imply, making choices. They prefer choices to stick, which proves they are the right choices, so they've only had about eight chancellors since 1949, & would have been happier with fewer. Changes of which party governs are rarer still. If America is the test of modern commitment to adventure, freedom, & empire, Germany is the test of stability, order, & universal bureaucratic empire, i.e. the EU.
Now, the party of Merkel is called Christian Democrat, recalling Germany's Protestant past, running an alliance with a regional party from the Catholic South, Bavaria, called Christian Socialist. Obviously, Christianity is now a joke in Germany, whose only religion is environmentalism. But Germans prefer order to change, so they stick with these names even as they commit to atheism. No one expects faith or even a vague knowledge of the Bible from these politicians. It would be considered an outrage if they talked about Jesus Christ…
In all these ways, Merkel is the ideal of German politics, the most Germans could hope for or tolerate. To strangers, this might seem shocking, to the point of abandoning good manners: An ugly woman who seems to lack personality! But anyone who knows Germans knows the solid, no-nonsense people who take pride in being reliable, successful, but do it all quietly, might even seem shy because they believe in minding their own business, yet can prove indomitable. It will not do to say beauty counts for nothing in Germany, although sophistication, what we call style, means nothing in Germany; it wouldn't be true to say all they really care about is business, either, although the model of politicians brokering deals between the state, industry, & labor unions may lead you to that view—but you must not forget the strange moralism of German elites in foreign affairs, which is largely shared by ordinary people, & certainly is supported by their outlook; Germans are very bad at understanding other countries, but happy to be the major power in Europe—all ambition may be lost, but only through the EU can Germany assure its dominance over what increasingly look like its debtor neighbors, countries that trust in electoral politics to solve their problems & instead only get more crises. Merkel arranged for the continuance & furtherance of this German domination with every semblance of law & morality available, but at every point acting at the expense of the European partners, so that the EU is now the worst threat to national politics, especially in the South & East. Germany will decline, in a way, without Merkel, as will the EU.
Germany is now much less important than it was two decades back. For those who take economics perhaps too seriously, Germany is now a kind of servant of luxury, a car producer for China: Without the approval of this great power, Germany would be stuck in permanent recession & its social-economic arrangements would become untenable. What is there for young Germans to look forward to or to attempt? Stranger still, Germany is now much closer to Russia than it was when Merkel replaced a man so corrupt that he moved from chancellor of the federal republic to the board of directors of the infamous Russian gas companies, where he still prospers. In other democracies, that might seem immoral or treasonous, but in Germany it’s merely an arrangement likely to promote stability. Indeed, Merkel did much more than her predecessor to tie Germany to Russia. Germany is now older, less likely to achieve anything, & out of politicians. If this seems startling, it is nevertheless the situation Merkel has been dealing with & against which her success should be measured.
The scandals of her term in office, I feel, all speak to her rare political judgment. Merkel destroyed the German nuclear industry, indebting the country to Russia in the process & leading to excess pollution, because young Germans, Greens, & Merkel personally are against this technology; her debut in gov't was as environment minister… Merkel invited millions of Muslims to Europe, causing great strife politically, but generally weakening the political right while winning immigrant voters, so that if the future belongs to the young, as liberals say, there is a good chance of ending the German nation & meanwhile elites are free of any attachment to the political right wing. Even Merkel's dealing with the financial crisis shows a tendency to weaken the European allies, traditional loyalties & the arrangements they strengthened, & instead to empower elites that resent or hate their peoples. After a rare four consecutive electoral victories, democracy in Europe is weaker than it's been since the end of communism.
Finally, all politics reminds us of our mortality, & we look to God to make up our shortfalls, but we plan ahead. Succession is a test of any politician & here Merkel has failed completely. As do most democratic politicians. Merkel appointed a rather annoying woman as replacement, but they fell out, then that woman also failed to win the support of party elites, voters, & media, so she resigned the leadership of the party. This year, the party got a new leader in a contest of non-entities, none of whom won Merkel's support, splitting elite & popular approval in the process, only to end with a very disappointing result in the legislative elections. The party looks likely to lose its hold on gov't & go into opposition. Young Germans now mostly reject the parties of their grandparents in favor of the Greens, the most hysterical part of German politics, & the Free Democrats, which might pass for libertarians, but have as yet nothing to say about Germany, politics, or Europe. Perhaps Merkel saw this change, since she positioned Germany for it, & accepted it. This may be disloyal to the party, but it may be the best she or anyone could offer Germany. To the superficial observer, this may look like managing decline, & much better than any other politician has managed. The careful observer will see in Merkel the best that was possible in Germany, a compromise above all between elites & workers & the young… There is much to say about such an important politician &, if we were serious, we’d pay men of judgment to tell us what they can & honor them for the good their good sense does us, but in the absence of such authorities, I offer this introductory sketch of Merkel's character, deeds, & ideas.