Red-red-green is a realistic option after the general election. The programs fit together wonderfully in many places. The participation of the Left Party in the federal government would be one thing above all else: a catastrophe.
The red-red-green hurdle has since been reduced to a strange formula: It’s actually all about NATO. If the Left Party no longer wants to dissolve this immediately, everything would be scratched. Then Scholz only has to join in, who supposedly prefers the traffic light – and the “progressive alliance” is ready, as it is euphemistically like to paraphrase.
I see many other problems there, and the first would be that a government with the Left Party would be a disaster for our country and the business location. In Moscow, the Crimean sparkling wine should already be chilled and the first caviar gift baskets sent to the Russian hacker and troll farms.
No, these are not the “red socks” that you get out of now. You have to be able to warn against such an alliance without running a campaign right away. The fact that the Union can’t think of much more than “prevent R2G” says more about the CDU / CSU than about red-red-green. It is “pitiful” to try a fine word that Wolfgang Schäuble once uttered about the SPD. Sure, the fear of a left government in the federal government will mobilize in some places and ballot boxes, but it only superficially conceals a certain burnout that is felt in the Union. Anyone who talks about it these days with CDU politicians does not even reap major protests or resistance.
Red-red-green already a reality – and a realistic option
Now it is like this: In the federal states, the participation of the Left Party is no longer the very big specter that it is often sold as – such coalitions were tried out and forged in a wide variety of constellations without a federal state going under. The state of Berlin is a special case because ideology and incompetence can be found here in all three partners.
In the federal government, red-red-green is a scenario for which there was a majority in 2013 and 2017 and which party strategists have been working towards for years. And if it is possible after September 26th, this option will be explored, that’s already happening now. If necessary, as red-green, tolerated by the Left Party – from the point of view of the party programs, with the exception of foreign policy, it would fit perfectly.
It is the FDP that does not fit in with the ideas of the SPD and the Green Party, because their election programs are neither pragmatic nor bourgeois or “middle” – only the candidates present themselves as that. The programs are decidedly left-wing and provide for a massive expansion of state activity, plus extensive tax increases for the top ten percent, more regulation and above all: high debts.
Not all of it is adventurous and outlandish. Tax increases are being discussed or implemented in several countries, such as these days in the UK. When it comes to investments, the Greens have the right energy and thrust: that simply more has to be invested. And when it comes to debt, you have to ask whether the “black zero” has long been the wrong fetish, a bigger mistake than a possible “debt orgy”.
Foreign policy unreliability
NATO is only a symbol that the Left Party is still unreliable in foreign policy and is breaking with many of the traditions and values of our country: it is blind to Russia, transfigured or glorified dictatorships or socialist autocracies like in Venezuela and courted Cuba; For years she has been bawling about how much right and wrong there was now in the GDR.
The statement by co-party leader Janine Wissler that the Bundeswehr is virtually unnecessary because Germany has no enemies is a geopolitical denial of reality. Until shortly before her election, Wissler was a member of the Marx21 group, which is monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution – which is probably one of the reasons that the Left Party wants to abolish this important organ. The fact that the Left Party did not even approve the mandate to rescue the Germans and local workers from Afghanistan a few weeks ago in the Bundestag is an oath of disclosure, a warning sign that this party should never take over the business of this country.
A shift in the foreign policy coordinates has, however, been pushed for months under the new parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich and the SPD leadership, which often only flows out indirectly and in small pieces, as in the dispute over the procurement of drones. And has led to the resignation of some SPD specialist politicians. It is the old, unrealistic staging of our country as a “peace power”, garnished with catchphrases such as “international social and raw materials policy”, “disarmament and arms control” and “civil peacekeeping”. It is interesting how a red-red-green government is already anticipated abroad: as a risk for Europe after years in which Germany has ensured stability.
Left-wing ideas could also be satire
It is always said that Olaf Scholz is still there, who would ultimately be Chancellor – but he will not be able to keep all the cups in the cupboard that his comrades take out all day long. Especially since there are hardly any pragmatists left in the first and second rows of the SPD. One of the few and capable is his clever State Secretary and strategist Wolfgang Schmidt, who would also sit in the Chancellery.
Most of the Left Party’s ideas are out of the question. Basically, it is about everyone working less, but getting more money, except of course “the rich” – people with assets of 2 million euros or more. The income tax is to be screwed to astronomical values of up to 75 percent. Many ideas are adventurous, with some you first have to clarify whether they come from the “Today Show” or the “Postillon” – for example that advance from the beginning of August, which encouraged workers to be free of heat from 26 degrees. However, the SPD also knows that the Left Party’s program was designed in a parallel world.
When it comes to money, the SPD, the Greens and the Left are relatively unanimous
On key issues such as taxes and pensions, however, the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party could quickly come to an agreement: All want a wealth tax or levy and all want a reform of the income tax, which burdens higher earners more. Only the limits are drawn differently, the Left Party draws them from 70,000 euros, the Greens from 100,000 euros, the rates vary from 45 to the aforementioned 75 percent.
Such plans would also affect all entrepreneurs who pay traditional income tax, i.e. the self-employed and partnerships – those who are elementary for our economy because they are known to keep things going. The economy would not be unleashed, as the Greens drummed up in the spring, but stifled.
A major weakness of a red-red-green coalition would be pension policy, which will become central in the coming years because demographic change is striking. All three are looking for solutions in the statutory pension system alone, the need for a second, funded pillar is only seen by the Greens. For the SPD and the Left Party, these are Wall Street gamblings.
Are wealthy entrepreneurs ashamed of their wealth?
A left alliance faces a major contradiction: Olaf Scholz never tires of emphasizing that the major upheavals – such as investments in climate protection – have to be leveraged with private capital. Germany alone needs additional investments of 1.5 to 2.3 trillion euros by 2050, that is 1.2 to 1.8 percent of GDP per year. But how do you lure capital, yes ally yourself with it, if you want to chase it away or tax it away? Oh, Scholz, he would still be there too.
It is interesting that a property levy or higher taxes for the top five to ten percent are not rejected everywhere below these five to ten percent. In many conversations with entrepreneurs and investors, I often heard this message: You should do it, and then we’ll be over with. Or: I would pay more. Or: I can understand that. The values of real estate and stocks in particular have risen sharply in recent years, so that many people have increased their wealth so significantly that they themselves feel a little uncomfortable.
But that doesn’t mean that Red-Red-Green has the right ideas for our country. Such an alliance is right to be worried about.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
