Same with the AfD. A lot of former right wing CDU guys in there who weren't satisfied that Merkel's CDU moved more to the centre. Same with the voters... apparently they still are ok with sharing ranks with far right people, just like Trump.

Btw What is wrong with the poll?! People here wanting the AfD to win?! F'in trolls!

I can only speak for my own country. And here politics do not have the same attention as other entertainment and as such have not been degraded into the same circus like in the US. Politics here is boring, mostly because it's actually politics and also because we rarely elect clowns that make outrageous statements on a daily basis. Parties act upon their conscience and policy and not because they desperately need to win the next election. There are no hardened rivalries because the goal is driven by policies and not elections. Attack ads are unthinkable and banned anyway. For the past 8 years the two biggest parties in Germany have governed as one.

Politics in Germany is boring. It's boring because it functions exactly as what it's supposed to. Politics. And actual politics are boring, as they should be. Because when they're boring it means they're not doing stupid outrageous shit.

So please don't even try to remotely compare our democracy with the corporation owned circus that happens in the US. Sure, no democracy is perfect but what we have here is pretty much as close as it gets.

Yes. Nothing short of a revolution will help the US fix what's wrong with society and politics. It's not enough to change policy. You need to change the way people think about policy.

I read a recent article about Bernie's proposed single payer healthcare, i.e. the only correct way to do healthcare. It stated that it was most likely not possible to implement it right away because people and politicians need to be slowly convinced about it. So you would have to take one or more steps in between to arrive there. But that is already deemed to fail because a partial implementation of it would be quite sub optimal and leave people with a bad taste in their mouth, which would lead to not even attempting the actual plan. But proper healthcare cannot work if you don't go full hog right away. So it's pretty much doomed. Health care cannot be changed if you don't change how people think about it. Socialism is one thing that makes it so comfortable to live in European countries. In the US it has a completely negative connotation. That will have to change before you can even attempt policy.

Another example would be gun control. In the current climate it is simply impossible to enact a full gun ban for civil use(except sports). So you would have to introduce it gradually. But if you do it gradually you will not see any results, which will just give more fuel to gun activists. It's not just the ban on guns that makes other countries so safe. It's the way people think of guns. It's not a status symbol or a precious symbol of freedom. It's not presented as the only thing to protect yourself and your family. It's simply treated at what it is, a tool for killing, a last resort. In the US it's the former and unless you change how people think about guns you cannot even attempt to apply policy.

Of course things like these can happen gradually over time but in the US you have very active counter forces that will suppress even gradual change. So no, there isn't really much hope. Something big has to happen for people to change.

Germany has been a nation of war once and then became one of the most peaceful nations on earth, but only due to the trauma of war.

Part of why I think the US should fall or at least have a war at home. But I definitely would not want to be here when that happens XD

I think a domestic war would just exacerbate the problem. Put the US even more in its favorite victim role and "prove" all those right wing fear mongers right.

What would be a lot more effective would be a complete economic collapse.

It would make them even more dependant of foreign aid, weakening the national ego.
Gun violence may increase which may prompt stricter enforcement of gun control.
It would make them spend less on defense.
It would make many more people dependant on welfare, expanding social programs.
Lower overall income would make the government crack down on shady financial institutions and the out of control pharma industry.
Government would maybe have some motivation for tax reform and cracking down on tax evaders.

That's all hypothetical of course but it sounds nice. The US has mostly made policy from a position of strength and rarely out of weakness, which explains why there are so few policies that help the weak or create safenets in case of sudden weakness.

Hmm.. so you believe something like a larger recession would benefit the country then?

But isn't that what true democracy is all about? Acting upon issues when things are changing and the majority of the people speak out on important issues. One could say Merkel is one of the few truly democratic leaders that's not just bound to her party or voters, but all citizens.

Indeed, the german liberals are anything but left. Ideologically, they're closest to the right-wing parties AfD and CDU; a bit more left than the AfD, a bit more right than the CDU.