Germany’s Election Is Making George Orwell Turn in His Grave
Incomprehensible gibberish by politicos isn’t unique to the country, but the German language does abet the crime.
‘Tis the season for empty phrases.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergLet me ask you an honest question. How do you feel about Mindestbeitragsbemessungsgrundlage? Your answer could determine how you’d vote in Germany’s federal election on Sept. 26, because the center-left Greens make much of it in their party platform — although it’s not entirely clear what it is, or what the Greens think about it.
The manifestos of the other five parties aren’t any better. The center-right bloc, consisting of the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, pontificates ominously about something called an Allgemeinverbindlichkeitserklaerung. The current front-runners, the Social Democrats, have a lot to say about Schwerpunktstaatsanwaltschaften. And so it goes.