42 Comments
User's avatar
JBS's avatar

Someone should file a suit on behalf of coal or natural gas against an NGO, claiming that the plaintiff has a constitutional right to be extracted from the Earth and to travel.

Tris's avatar

Yes. Freedom of movement is a human right 😄

Tris's avatar
Oct 5Edited

We are witnessing the same process in France. Democracy is slowly but surely giving way to an unelected legal authority that claims to define what is good despite the will of the people and their elected representatives.

Recently, the idea have been floated of amending the Constitution to make any law considered to be "social progress" irrevocable whatever an elected future National Assembly would do about it... One can only imagine how far this could go.

And indeed, once in the constitution, anything can be interpreted the way the judges see it.

France motto being "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité", helping illegal immigrants to enter and stay in France has been deemed constitutionally legal in the name of 'fraternity'.

And, despite it has been voted by the National Assembly, extending the detention period of the dangerous immigrants beyond the 90 days that are the normal rule here (when even European directives allow for 280 days !) as been deemed unconstitutional in the name of 'egality'.

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Scary how the same pattern plays out across the continent.

Tris's avatar

It is not something happening out of the blue... If you follow Aurélien's blog, he offers very thorough explanation and historical context about that : https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/a-swan-song-for-europe

Bash's avatar

Germanys trajectory is all but assured at this point. Yes, it's a pity and yes, it was unnecessary. But both ideologically as well as, well, physics, are not in its favor. Its a real pity because when Germany is on form the whole world enjoys what it produces and then when it goes collectively nuts, well, nothing more to say

Johnstone75's avatar

Slow motion suicide of their nation

Andy Fately's avatar

I fear they are starting to accelerate the process

The Fringe Finance Report's avatar

Ah, "We need to destroy democracy to protect democracy"!

Great article, and an implicit acknowledgment of the weakness of Germany's leaders, if the power of their argument is so weak that they need to resort to undemocratic ways to implement their vision, like discovering constitutional rights for "nature" that ultimately restrict human rights.

Kaufhold’s explicit belief that parliaments are 'too slow' and that courts should make 'unpopular decisions' is an admission that the democratic process is an obstacle to be bypassed. That attitude can best be summarized as "We need to destroy democracy to protect democracy."

I make no argument for or against environmental laws — that is for German voters to decide. But German votes, and not an unelected body like the German Supreme Court, should be responsible for "discovering" new rights.

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Thank you and I absolutely agree.

William Rickards's avatar

"Those that are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it". Ad infinitum.

Urs Broderick Furrer's avatar

Well said. But in truth, her approach is not “the democratic process is too slow for the climate project,” but, rather, “the democratic process is too slow for the Marxist project.”

Charles Pickles's avatar

The trouble is that nice people just do not want to stir up trouble, or make a nuisance of themselves. They generally are not into this sort of politicking unless they feel their lives will be adversely affected. The long slow poison that is affecting western civilisation is, at present, of little consequences. It is for ‘others’ to sort out.

But that is the way civilisations come and go - an interruption that those of commonly held virtues and standing are just unable to cope with the new interruptions, whether be by violence or by cancer. That said both most likely occur together, the one from the other. Evolution it is called by some; the end of the world by others.

It will be the successors, generations, of those in power today that will have to manage as they find the world they have inherited, for good or bad; in wealth or in poverty. New norms can be expected.

dave walker's avatar

Where is the protesting and pushback from the normies in Germany?

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

The water is about to boil but the frog still finds it comfortably warm.

the long warred's avatar

The Frog will sit in sie haus and take poison when the barbarians approach. This exactly happened in East Prussia in 1945, now called Kaliningrad , no Germans since the Russians took it in 1945. The Russians found the last of the Junkers sitting round the table, dead. The last tea party of the civilized Germans.

Now we 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 did that, and we did it for money and power and the rest while true is irrelevant, nonsense really. Churchill was Clive, Germany his India, we 🇺🇸 The East India company and the new Crown. 👑

…perhaps they’ll have a chance if we let them go?

the long warred's avatar

“Normies” don’t push

A Canadian's avatar

As we reached for the stars with curiosity, greed and desperate planning, we leave bureaucrats quibbling over interpretations of what the human race should do to change a “planet” that they only partially understand. Follow the current, logical science into an unknown vortex.

Trail, error, success each seems assured as time goes by.

The Financial Pen's avatar

Really love the caption "Transformative" 😄. They say a picture tells a thousand words but in this case, Katrin's benign smile photographed belies something more sinister that only the article can do justice.

winston's avatar

Fabianista wreckers in UK, Marxists a la Gramschi in Germany, durn right ESG isn't over!

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

They make sure to see it through.

Walter W. Noss's avatar

A consitution as a economic suicide pact? Mob -- and not even majoriarian Mob -- rule? Good luck with that Germany.

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Luck is the only thing left between this and a full-blown train wreck.

the long warred's avatar

The Flaw in Gramsci;

To take the State without force means a state without force. To advance by deceit is to fear discovery every waking moment and in every dream. To ascend by Fraud is to arrive in power bankrupt.

Not even Napoleon who took Spain by Fraud could hold it once the Fraud was exposed.

These lawyers are no Napoleons.

Andy Fately's avatar

I had not heard that she was put on the court, only that Merz originally tried to get 3 members put on to appease the left.

I have been trying to assess whether Germany or the UK was going to destroy itself first, and in truth, thought the UK was pulling ahead. but now, I think Germany may have made a strong move to get back into the lead!!

The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

It’s a head-to-head race. Kaufhold was barely mentioned in the mainstream media. All focus was on another candidate (Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf – you gotta love these names) and her rather irrelevant stance on abortion rights, which aren’t even an issue in German politics, and a potential AfD ban. Kaufhold, the more dangerous pick, flew under the radar.

Wouter's avatar

What a chilling article. Gramsci’s “old world” can be directly replaced by Europe. Now is the time for monsters indeed