make sure that none of your voting locations are using starlink internet access

? Germany is old-fashioned and when it comes to elections I'm happy that we're sticking to pen and paper. And actual humans doing the counting.

On a sidenote - Starlink isn't that big in Germany. I don't think I've ever read/heard about any public authorities using it.

We had electronic voting, but it was gone as fast as it came. I voted electronic once in a local election in the early 2000s

Yeah, voting is essential.

But don't worry about starlink, the German voting process happens on paper sheets. The voter has to be identified before the vote. Then all votes get counted by hand and multiple times, submitted by fax and telephone.

*November 2024* Germans to Americans:

• Don't fuck up as we did in 1933

*February 2025* Americans to Germans:

• Don't fuck up as we did in November

Given Merz' right-wing rhetoric (incl. literally calling anyone who doth protest his behavior a "a green or leftist crackpot"; or pronouncing that "left-wing politics are over"), his playing-off of parts of society, his choleric antics, and his closeness to Maga-friendly figures like Spahn ... Yeah, no. Merz is danger.

We're very sceptic about the rigidity of the so called firewall (the confession of the big parties, especially CDU/CSU to form a coalition with the neo nazis). The chancellor candidate Merz (aka Mr. Burns) already jackhammered it by voting together with AfD against migration. Just yesterday he denounced millions of people who are protesting since the beginning of 2024 against the move of politics to the far right by asking where they were when Walter Lübcke a CDU governour fighting for migrants was murdered by a nazi in 2019. They were protesting in the thousands and the Antifa was investigating the backgrounds of groups like hammerskins, combat 18 or NSU. Mr. Burns yesterday also called lefts and greens "Spinner" (crazies) and was rewarded with frenetic applause by the bavarians to whom he was holding his speech. There are a few CDU politicians saying out loud that the firewall is history and they should work together with AfD.

Should Americans have faith in their government and democracy?

The AfD will likely get about 20% (I haze it, but its the reality we live in), but what is also great is, that our leftist party will get about 8%. They won't be in the government, but they for sure will annoy the hell out of them. They will also pressure the more left leaning parties to not do everything our conservatives want to do. They also promised that they want to push to forwards to the so called "Mietendeckel" (rent lid) to end the raising of rent prices which means more stability for about 46% of people. I am optimistic, that they can do this. They have completely rearranged themselves and skyrocketed from about 2.5% a few months ago to now 8% in the polls. We didnt have so many members in the left party in 15 years. The left party has also been responsible for the crarion of the minimum wage in Germany without being part of the government.

Even tho that the government will be ass, I hope for our left party do actually change something. Even tho we aren't part of the government we already won this election.

Follow dear leader's example

If you want to vote AfD you should put a Hakenkreuz. This way the vote is counted twice.

Warning: Bad design, but instead of arguing over the top part, which definitely has some considerations that make it a bit more complicated, my main concern is the bottom part.

It's not enough that my vote is thrown away if I don't vote, but put in a blender with all the other non-voters and then distributed in part to the very parties I do not like.