The Sorcerer’s Apprentices of the Ruling Classes

A current topic of debate by allegedly serious people in Germany is whether to ban Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist political party which has been surging in opinion polls. Surging to such an extent that it currently out-polls the ruling Social Democrats and is in shouting range of the Christian Democrats. Those mooting the ban include Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. These elite worthies label the AfD as extremist, enemies of the constitution, and threats to democracy.

The utter moral panic is palpable.

The irony of banning a political party in the name of “democracy” is beyond obvious.

Midwits defending a ban make arguments like, well, the Nazis came to power by democratic means, so it is necessary to protect democracy against the new Nazis–which they obviously believe the AfD to be.

This is historical idiocy. For one thing, the Nazis were declining in popularity when Hitler was invited by German President Paul von Hindenburg to become Chancellor, at the behest of Franz von Papen. Von Papen was a member of the conservative elite, which despaired of defeating the left without the Nazi base. He came up with the brilliant plan of bringing the Nazis into the government on the theory that the conservative elite would dominate Hitler and use him: “We’ve hired him” von Papen told Hindenberg.

Yeah, that worked out great!

Moreover, Hindenburg had to exercise his emergency powers under the Weimar Constitution to install Hitler as Chancellor since the Nazis did not have a majority or a majority coalition in the Reichstag. Again, he did so under the theory that by doing so he would prevent the left from obtaining power and install a puppet that his minority faction could control.

So no, the Nazis did not take power by democratic means. They had a considerable voting bloc, yes, but it was the arrogant and blundering machinations of a faction of the German elite that put them in power.

Soon thereafter, Hitler ran roughshod over those who thought he was their hireling. One of his first acts, in the aftermath of the Reichstag Fire, was to persuade Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree which suspended most civil liberties. This was followed by the passage of the Enabling Act that effectively allowed Hitler to rule by decree, and which ultimately resulted in . . . the effective banning of all political parties other than the Nazis.

More irony for you.

Other historical facts fundamentally differentiate the AfD from the Nazis. The Nazis had a vast paramilitary organization (the SA, and the SS, which was much smaller when Hitler took power) that could intimidate opponents and carry out violence against those that posed a political threat to the Party: the AfD does not. The Nazis obviously had a mesmerizing and messianic leader who attracted a mass personal following. The AfD does not.

The AfD are not my cup of tea, in large part because they are anti-American, although I can understand and sympathize with some of the positions that have made them a political force, namely their anti-EU stance, and their anger over the immigration policies that Merkel and the German political elite forced on the country.

But that’s neither here nor there. What’s particularly fascinating about this to me is how it validates something I pointed out before the 2016 election in the United States, namely, the utter inability of the western “elite” to comprehend–or even consider the possibility–that they created the thing that now terrifies them to the point of wanting to ban it.

AfD’s popularity is due completely to the failure of the German ruling class of all parties–SPD, CDU, Greens. Or maybe not its failure, but it’s Borat-like success of imposing its will despite popular opposition, and its demonization and cancelation of those who express their dissatisfaction.

In other words, the German establishment is reaping what it has sown, and doesn’t like it one bit. But instead of stepping back and asking why supposed Nazis have re-emerged in modern Germany, and considering whether maybe, just maybe, the enemy is them, and that they are primarily responsible for this malign development, they presume their righteousness and react by attempting to demonize and crush what they have created, Sorcerer’s Apprentice-like.

And again, this is not a phenomenon unique to Germany. It is ubiquitous in the west, where populist fires lit by the ruling classes are burning, and the ruling classes cannot even countenance the thought they they are the arsonists.

The Trump phenomenon in the US is one example. Brexit in the UK. (Both of these were prominent in my 2016 post.) But not just them. Look at France (Le Pen) or the Netherlands (Farmers’ Party) or Meloni in Italy.

Or Melei in Argentina. This clip is wildly entertaining, but not just for Melei’s volcanic rant or his Austin-Powers-Meets-the-Late Elvis hairdo: the look on the interviewer’s face is priceless:

“Argentinian Trump” Presidential candidate Javier Milei leaves reporter in STUNNED silence— WATCH

REPORTER: "Why do you call Leftists shit?"

MILEI: "BECAUSE THEY ARE SHIT!”

REPORTER: ?

MILEI: “If you think differently they will kill you!”

pic.twitter.com/rybDuYtZN3

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 17, 2023

A smaller example is the freak out over “Oliver Anthony” (real name Christopher Anthony Lunsford), whose “Rich Men North of Richmond” dominates iTunes –along with several of his other songs. Anthony’s (who would be a spitting image of me at his age if he was about 15 lbs. lighter–I mean, a near doppelgänger) success has caused a moral meltdown among the establishment. Yes, the left in particular, but also the elitist right (e.g., National Review).

Again, the Other frightens these people no end, but they cannot come to grips with the fact that the Other is a reaction to them, 10000 percent.

In a typically supercilious and condescending way, New York Times columnist David Brooks (whom I have a vague recollection of encountering a few times during our shared time at the University of Chicago) tiptoed up to the precipice and looked over. But in the end he chooses to be a “card-carrying member of his class” (his words).

The populist forces shaking virtually the entire west will not abate until the ruling classes engage in self-reflection, self-criticism, and humility. But that is not in their nature. They KNOW they are better than you, and if you disagree with them that’s because you are the unwashed reprobate who doesn’t know his/her place. Which means that the populist backlash will not abate. Especially in Jacksonian America.

And when it does not abate, authoritarian responses are inevitable. Germany’s serious consideration of banning the AfD is just the harbinger of such responses. And that will look mild compared to what is brewing in the United States. The Sorcerer’s Apprentices of our ruling classes have unleashed forces that they cannot control, and are indeed redoubling their spells. Chaos is inevitable.