The Weimarer Republik failed and gave way to the NSDAP (National Socialists, or "Nazis" for short), handing them power in 1933 with just 43% of the vote due to the fracturing of the rest of the vote.
The CDU/CSU of Angela Merkel never allowed for their true talent to rise to the top, and so were faced with three colorless jerks as their chancellor choice. The guy who won out, Armin Laschet, is so gaffe-prone, he scores so high as to leave Joe Biden with not so much as an honorable mention. The SPD's Scholz, while a consummate bureaucrat, is not gaffe-prone, and only has to wait out the CDU's mistakes in order to win by default. Unfortunately, he is also caught up in the SPD's apparently eternal, tired "mehr Gerechtigkeit" slogan ("more justice" ) that lost them the last election. Both they and the Greens think that raising taxes on the already heavily taxed Germans will somehow be the magic bullet that cures all ills. The Germans already reach their maximum tax level (de facto about 50% including all surcharges) at about $85,000 in gross income, AND they pay a 19% VAT (national sales tax) on all goods and services.
Despite some serious setbacks, Merkel, who was neither a bureaucrat nor a professional politician, led Germany with competence and a steady hand for the last 16 years, and felt she had had enough. That her party didn't even give some of its competent women a chance to rise as a possible successor is a shining symbol of their weakness. The SPD has had a similar attitude towards its women, so they don't get any medals in that regard, either. The Greens have a younger woman as their figurehead, but her proposed policies are very close to the SPD. They present them better, but will still present the same serious incentives for business and jobs to leave Germany for neighboring countries. I'm sure the French, the Belgians, the Poles and the Czechs are rooting for them, although Belgium is so corrupt, I'm sure they are the least likely to benefit from such a situation.
The far right AfD is greedily licking its chops at the slipping of the CDU, and present a clear and present danger of Germany getting too much power for a serious version of today's Republican Party. If a leftist government gets in and does badly, the AfD will pick up the slack, much as the NSDAP did in 1933. The far left "Die Linke" is only slightly different from the old East German ruling party, the SED, despite its efforts to put on a respectable face. No one will ask them into a national coalition any more than they will ask the AfD. The supposedly "pro-business" FDP, once a rational middle-of-the-road coalition partner, is blatantly a friend of the fossil fuel industry, and is led by a slimy liar. It can no longer be trusted to have the national interest at heart, and will hopefully only be a choice of last resort.
My wife, once a reliable Greens voter, is totally dismayed at the choice next month. I don't blame her. But Herr Noneoftheabove is not on the ballot of any party. She'll vote either SPD or Greens, and hate it the whole time.
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