When Oligarchs go Bad

Elon Musk and Germany's Alternative für Deutschland

The Democratic Dilemma and Militant Democracy

Authoritarians are known for their ability to come to power legally, then destroy the rule of law. Hitler is the best known example.¹ If it is difficult to strike the right balance between preventing this and avoiding undue restrictions on political expression in any democracy, it is all the more difficult in Germany, where at every turn you are blackmailed by history.

Germans are highly averse to surveillance, having experienced not only Nazism but also the Stasi, one of the most oppressive intelligence networks the world has known. For the same reason, however, Germans are averse to political figures and parties who seek to undermine the freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung, or free democratic basic order. These are the constitutional principles enshrined in the German Basic Law, such as human dignity, equality before the law, the separation of powers, the rule of law, and minority rights.

The conflict between these two sensitivities ha…