In a modern, globalized world, stagnation or even an economic downturn will come on its own without action. The constant striving of others to improve while at the same time doing nothing leads to an ever-widening gap, which ultimately leads to creeping ruin. For some time now, Germany has found itself in the uncomfortable position of being overtaken in more and more areas by a wide variety of nations. At some point, it will no longer be possible to catch up. Only if society as a whole, including political and economic structures, becomes more competitive will it be possible to keep pace with the rapidly developing nations. Change comes from positive change, which is generally referred to as reform. However, as Germany has to reform many areas at the same time and should have done so a long time ago, there is talk of a reform backlog. The following areas are affected, although the list is not exhaustive:

• Legal system must be streamlined and simplified
• Political system must become more grassroots democratic and performance-oriented
• Administration must be efficient and fully digitalized
• Lobbying and clientelism must be effectively combated
• The school and training system must be completely changed to ensure that the content makes sense

All of these are highly explosive and highly complex subsystems of a society and must therefore be analyzed and described separately

Journalists attach great importance to freedom of the press and anonymization of their sources. What you unfortunately do not value is quality journalism, balanced reporting and critical illumination of important factual issues.

This is reflected in the work you deliver every day. Deplorable and pathetic, the poor workmanship is driving away more and more readers and subscribers. And rightly so.

But where does the discrepancy between self-perception and actual journalistic work come from? Why is there no look at other countries where quality journalism is still possible in marginalized areas and which could serve as a positive example?

Why is the level of your own standards so low that most published texts can only be subsumed under scribbling? Where is the professional pride and the ethos of the past to be enlightening and informative and to limit oneself to the important and essential?

The majority of content is cross-published, bought in or, it seems, agreed with competitors. Interchangeable and arbitrary content, interchangeable and arbitrary publishers, interchangeable and arbitrary authors.

Why are highlights of journalistic work so rare and the vast majority of publications completely irrelevant?

Journalists struggle with various adversities:

• Your own hubris
• The own inability
• The own phlegm
• The minimum value standards of one’s own work
• The learned scissors in the head
• The prevailing cost pressure
• Indirect pressure from politicians and publishers

As a result, mediocrity is still a euphemism to describe journalism published in Germany in the 21st century.

See also: Mainstream, Krüger Uwe

Critics of democracy are often pushed into a certain intellectual corner. Anti-democratic, radical, dubious. To name just the most harmless.

This is a modern way of influencing opinions and steering them in the desired direction. The general suspicion here is that the masses are being kept lethargic and uncritical so that they can exploit the weaknesses of the system to their own advantage.

But anyone who criticizes the existing form of democracy and makes fundamental proposals for reform towards a better functioning democracy and society is in reality a democrat who stands out positively from the Pharisees of the current political establishment.

Democracy per se is not good or bad, it is the way it is shaped and how it is intertwined with society that can make a democracy dysfunctional.

There are enough signs of a disintegrating, dysfunctional Berlin Republic. Here is just a small selection:

• Reform backlog
• Lobbying and economic integration
• Clientele policy
• Loss of reality in daily politics
• Failure due to acute problems
• Consensus policy instead of solution policy

But the problems of the Berlin Republic go deeper and evoke the image of the Augean stables. These topics will have to be addressed in further articles in order to shed more light on Germany’s self-inflicted disaster.

First of all, however, it should be emphasized that a democratic reform, whatever form it may take, must always lead to a different form of democracy and not to a change in the system of rule!