Last week, the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper published an article titled "Überall Brandmauern". In English, it means "There are firewalls everywhere." By "firewall", the authors refer to the ideological firewall that every political party maintains, that differentiates it from every other party.
They keep firewalls as a badge of honor, meaning that they care about and protect the integrity of their political orientation and value system. But Germany has a parliamentary-type government, meaning that the parties often have to serve in coalitions with other parties that don't share their value system. Their skill in negotiating the best possible course, that doesn't compromise on their value system, really comes to the forefront in coalitions.
Germany has eight parties that send representatives to their parliament, called "der Bundestag" in German. For the last few years, the Bundestag has been led by an "Ampel Koalition", a "stoplight coalition", so-named for the parties that comprise it—red for the Socialist Party, the SPD; yellow for the moderate-conservative FDP; and green for the borderline-Marxist Grünen.
But none of these parties wanted to give ground during the negotiations on the policy-initiatives; so the Ampel Koalition has breathed its last and called for new elections. So a "firewall" can refer to a party's integrity, but it also militates toward another meaning, namely that the unwillingness of the political parties to negotiate with each other limits the government's ability to conduct business and pass legislation on pressing issues affecting the nation. This is bad new, since the legislators have the media and the public on their backs demanding action. Their inaction jeopardizes their hopes for re-election.
The Germans also have their history to consider, namely that the Nazi Party took advantage of the deep political divisions caused by the Depression-plagued poverty of the 1930s. Professor William F. Allen writes in his famous The Nazi Seizure of Power that Germans had reached the end of their patience with parliamentary government, since it lacked the ability to overcome the divisions and to deal with the nation's problems. They had the bad-luck to vote in the Nazis who promised to end the divisions—which they did, I have to admit!
Americans must also remember that political disunity, in the years before World War II, also played a big role in the fate of other European nations. France tried in vain to govern itself but remained in a see-saw conflict between the Conservative Party and the Socialists, with numerous Frenchmen wanting a more extreme solution offered by the Fascists and the Communists. Even after Germany invaded it, France's government remained crippled by the divisions. The Germany Army charged into France with its "Blitzkrieg", or lightning war. France responded with a "Sitzkrieg", sitting as if waiting for conquest.
A "cold" civil war also doomed the nation of Austria, split between the Socialists, Monarchists, and the nation's indecisive Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg. The Nazis walked into Austria to "restore order". Schuschnigg's proposal for a national referendum, to decide on Austria's independence, was overridden by the imperious Führer. The rival leaders of the Socialists and Monarchists, rather than linking up to oppose Hitler, simply fled the country.
Finally, Americans corporations have to deal with disunity among their shareholders and corporate directors. If a corporation lacks unity, an unwelcome third-party—namely a renegade shareholder—may acquire a large enough position to hold the corporation hostage, until the directors buy back the renegade's shares at an inflated price. Business experts have given this tactic the name "Greenmail", the corporate version of blackmail.
In short, disunity can have catastrophic consequences; and Americans have to live with it everyday. They will continue to do so, until one politician has enough guts to say, "Enough of this blackmail and intimidation! We want out!" I hope I live long enough to see which political party initiatiates it. For my money, it will be the Republicans. Let's hope the Republican members can get over their own disunity to see the independence movement through to its finale.