Sometimes the people stir and frighten the representatives. This is what happened with Hubertus Heil, Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. On his table is a protest paper about citizens’ money, which 223 of a total of 294 district administrators have signed.
All governmental power comes from the people. This is what Article 20 of our laudable Constitution says. But unfortunately, the practitioners of state power know little about how the people think and what they want. They organize our coexistence far away from the will of the people.
Sometimes the people stir and frighten their representatives. Social Minister Hubertus Heil of the SPD is experiencing the horror of the week. On his desk lies a protest paper about the citizen’s allowance, signed by 223 of a total of 294 district administrators. The angry district administrators come from all political persuasions.
They are much closer to the people than the ministry officials around Heil. They are in constant contact with their mayors. They receive direct information from what is happening in the job centers and they talk to citizens in their communities.
They wrote the conclusion of their findings to the government in Berlin: Too many of the four million recipients are taking advantage of citizens’ money. They perceive the payments as a permanent solution and not as an incentive to change their situation.
The 223 district administrators formulate concrete suggestions for changes in eight points. They deal with recipients’ obligations to cooperate, housing regulations that are too generous, sanctions that are too negligent and taxpayers’ money to be handled too negligently.
Tübingen district administrator Joachim Walter adds that only ten to a maximum of 20 percent of people from Ukraine have arrived at work. Many are on waiting lists for language courses. We know that many more Ukrainians work in other European countries than here.
Labor Minister Heil should take the protest seriously. Firstly, out of respect for local self-government, which is too often disregarded by ministries and also by party headquarters in Berlin. And secondly, out of respect for the people and the voters. His party colleague Sven Ambrosy, district administrator in Lower Saxony, warns: “Here in the Friesland district, everyone notices everything. The system must protect the honest ones.”
Some topics on talk shows are far removed from reality. This includes disputes about the term dominant culture.
The experienced viewer knows what to expect. Well-known regular guests from the left-wing camp tear the word apart without anyone contradicting them. When selecting their guests, the hosts pay attention to their posture and position.
Hopefully they throw the emotive word Leitkultur around and the guests bite and become outraged. It is a motto of the CDU, but none of the debaters are suspected of voting for this party. Your dislike for the CDU and its leader is obvious.
On “Maischberger,” an ARD lead woman argues quite unabashedly and apolitically: “Merz is simply not a likeable person.” She later adds: “I know a lot of women who don’t like him.” Contrary to their earlier softness, the conservatives have not to be intimidated by the constant media fire and not to adapt.
The guiding culture is well founded in the basic program. It is a basic civic value of the CDU and an offer to its current voters and to those it still wants to convince. The consequence of this attitude also includes refraining from the voices of blasphemers on talk shows.
FOCUS founding editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort was a FDP member of the Bavarian State Parliament from 2018 to 2023.
