One almost feels a pang of sympathy for German Chancellor Merz, if one were prone to such sentimentalities when observing the machinations of the state. His recent declaration that state election results were a "disaster" for his centre-right CDU party in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern rings with a certain tragicomic irony. It's almost as if the electorate, bless their hearts, had the audacity to suggest they might prefer to decide things for themselves, rather than having their lives meticulously choreographed by well-meaning (or perhaps just well-fed) bureaucrats.
The BBC wire report paints a picture of a governing party reeling, scratching its head, and likely wondering what on earth went wrong. From a libertarian perspective, the answer is as clear as a tax form written in plain English: too much government. While the CDU might consider itself "centre-right," in the grand tapestry of European politics, that often translates to a nuanced blend of state intervention and... well, more state intervention. Voters, it seems, have a habit of eventually tiring of being treated like children in a very expensive, very bureaucratic daycare.
It brings to mind F.A. Hayek’s profound insight that "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." One could easily substitute "politics" for "economics" and "society" for "what they imagine they can design." Merz's party, like so many others, operates on the presumption that a benevolent, wise central authority can simply tweak the levers of society to achieve optimal outcomes. The voters, in their infinite wisdom (or perhaps just their infinite frustration), have offered a rather blunt rebuttal to this paternalistic fantasy.
What constitutes a "disaster" for a political party is often a liberation for the individual. Less support for the ruling establishment frequently translates into a weakening of its mandate to regulate, tax, and meddle. We can only hope that these electoral tremors signal a growing fatigue with the creeping omnipresence of the state, not just in Germany, but across the continent. When governments promise everything from cradle to grave, they invariably deliver a cradle of regulations and a grave of individual liberty.
The specific issues that led to the CDU's downturn are likely complex – local grievances, national pressures, the perennial search for a scapegoat. But beneath it all, there is an underlying current. People want agency. They want control over their own lives, their own money, their own decisions. They are not merely cogs in the grand machine of the state, to be managed and optimized. They are individuals, each with unique preferences and aspirations, far too diverse and dynamic to be neatly organized by any central committee, no matter how well-intentioned.
Berlin, a city often synonymous with artistic freedom and historical weight, rejecting the established order, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a region with its own distinct character, doing the same – this isn’t merely a blip. It’s a recurring theme in the symphony of self-governance. Whenever the state overreaches, whenever it tries to plan economies, dictate social norms, or simply become too expensive and cumbersome, the people eventually push back. It might be a slow, grinding resistance, but it's often an inevitable one.
Merz's vow to "stay on" as Chancellor is, of course, the predictable response. Leaders rarely admit their policies are fundamentally flawed; they prefer to blame circumstances, communication, or the sheer stubbornness of the electorate. But perhaps a true reckoning would involve less clinging to power and more questioning of the very premise of their power. What if the disaster isn't just for his party, but for the very idea that a distant, centralized authority knows best?
One can only hope that this "disaster" serves as a wake-up call, not just for the CDU, but for all those who believe that the solution to every problem is another government program, another layer of bureaucracy, another diktat from on high. The true disaster would be for the lessons of these electoral defeats to be ignored, and for the march towards ever-larger, ever-more intrusive government to continue unabated. The spirit of liberty, after all, is a hardy plant, but even it struggles under the shadow of a truly embarrassing relative.