Let us assume that the general election on this Sunday led to a result that many now consider to be not unlikely: Under the leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), there will be a red-green-red coalition.

It is true that Scholz made a touching effort to support the FDP for a while.

But the talks ultimately fail because of financial policy.

While the Liberals are steadfastly opposed to the introduction of a wealth tax, an increase in income tax and the easing of the debt brake, the SPD man is walking open doors with his tax proposals on the left.

Rainer Hank

Freelance writer in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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Let us also assume - which many believe is also not entirely unlikely - the Berlin initiative to expropriate large housing groups would also be successful and a new red-red-green Senate in the capital under the leadership of Franziska Giffey would not be able to avoid the democratic vote of the Pour majority in a law and tackle the socialization of the real estate portfolio.

Subsequently, the expropriation law would quickly find many friends in the Scholz cabinet.

So if we assume that this election result came about in a completely democratic way, then it would not be an exaggeration to say that we would then find ourselves in a different, namely left-wing republic, in which private property is no longer respected, the successful exceptions are confiscatory and - at the urging of the Greens - with a view to climate change, stronger interventions in the freedom of movement of citizens would be the order of the day.

What chances do minorities have?

I don't want to stir up a “red sock fear” here. I am concerned with a question of legal philosophy: What options do minorities have to defend themselves against the will of the majority? The obvious answer is: none at all. That's just how it is in a democracy. The losers have to bow to the majority. You can campaign for the fact that in the next election your people, who are pushing back socialism, will come back to power. If they become very impatient, they are free to emigrate to a more liberal country (e.g. Switzerland). Democracy, wrote Alexis de Tocqueville almost 200 years ago, is a kind of dictatorship of the majority. There is nothing you can do.

Can you really not? There are good reasons why individuals have few opportunities to correct election results that are uncomfortable for them. But what about larger local authorities? Let us now assume in our thought experiment that, unlike in the federal government, there would be a solid majority of the CSU in Bavaria under the leadership of the charismatically vigorous hero Markus Söder. That would revive the old contrast between Munich and Berlin, not least because it would be feared that the red-green-red tax and climate plans would primarily affect the successful companies and economic citizens of Bavaria (and Baden-Württemberg, but that would be a other topic). No wonder that as a result, old secessionist ideas are experiencing a renaissance in the Free State.According to a survey by the polling institute YouGov from 2017, a third of Bavarians want independence from the Federal Republic. The Bavarian Party has kept this idea of ​​autonomy alive for years.