Eighty years after the Nazi dictatorship, a party that refuses to draw a hard line against that past just doubled its vote share, and that should horrify anyone. Siegmund played the friendly candidate while surrounding himself with extremists and staying silent as supporters harassed journalists, which makes him dangerous to liberal democracy.

Germany isoffers a warningcautionary tale. YearsDecades of socialstatist democracy,economic interventionismpolicy — heavy regulation, regulatoryhigh overreachtaxes, punitiveinterventionist taxationgovernance and anti-the abandonment of nuclear policiesenergy — have erodedhollowed competitiveness,out weakenedGerman industry and damagedundermined the primarycountry's sectorcompetitive foundations. TheBoth SPDthe CDU and CDUSPD sharebear responsibility for this trajectory. The AfD's rise reflects public discontent with visible political and economic decline. Social democracy has failed to deliver prosperity — and increasingly, it is failing to win elections.