Three weeks before the federal election, the CDU and CSU are in the polls worse than ever before.
And they made it too easy for themselves to attribute this development to their candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet alone.
With its Rhineland sausage, it only brings out the underlying problem: The Union lacks profile.
And that is why it binds fewer and fewer voters.
This development goes hand in hand with the party's increasing reluctance to profess a "bourgeois" policy. Because this label tastes too much like hunter schnitzel with fried potatoes? However, that would be a misunderstanding. Because in addition to the much-cited “Christian image of man”, “bourgeoisie” marks the point of view from which the Union parties have practiced politics quite successfully in the past. The common root of both is Christian personalism, i.e. the conviction that people shape their lives freely and responsibly - and that the state also gives them the opportunity to do so. The “Christian image of man” covers the moral and also the social side of this concept. In the case of “bourgeoisie”, on the other hand, there is an economic component. Because if you want to stand on your own two feet,also requires a certain economic efficiency. It is “commonplace” to make a living through work, to support one's family and to provide for old age.
CDU and CSU credibility problem
And this is exactly where the CDU and CSU's credibility problem begins.
For 16 years, both parties paid too little attention to the economic interests of the middle class.
The prerequisite for the black zero in the state budget is the low, now negative interest rates, which benefit the state and some companies, but harm most citizens.
Their savings bring in less and less return and melt away with inflation.
At the same time, real estate prices are rising, from which the state also benefits from the - additionally heavily increased - real estate transfer taxes.
The dream of having one's own four walls - a deeply bourgeois idea - is thus becoming unattainable for more and more members of the middle class.
In terms of pension policy, the balance sheet is no better. In essence, under Chancellor Angela Merkel, the basic arithmetic operations were ignored for 16 years. On the annual pension notice, the future may look halfway bright. But many suspect that it is a castle in the air and that bad checks are also used in health and care policy.
Such a policy is non-bourgeois. If people live longer, they have to work longer too. Where does the reluctance to expect voters to accept this simple connection come from? He'll catch up with her sooner or later anyway. In recent years, however, the Union has never had the courage to resolutely oppose the SPD on such issues. In the Bundestag election, she may now pay a high price for it. Because the voters do not want a fluctuating underground, but a down-to-earth politics. Civil just.