German legislative election, 2017

[TheSaint250]

I love the FDP.

[TheSaint250]

FDP. Merkel is too leftish for my tastes, I'm obviously not voting for a left-wing party and I also generally don't vote for right-wing populists (though I might have considered the AfD when it was still led by Lucke).

On certain things, it seems like FDP is becoming more center-right than Merkel. Londoner did a really good job building up the party.

I used to like AfD more but I favor FDP because it's more where I am politically. I like that it advocates more for helping the environment and being more welcoming towards immigration (not saying AfD itself is anti-all immigration but some of the members are) while also stating that a more realistic limit on refugees needs to be put in place

[TheSaint250]

More people voting FDP and AfD than I would've thought. Also lol at no CDU/CSU votes

[TheSaint250]

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Not all of them. It's more, in my opinion, the usual divide between Christian democrats and European liberals. The former are generally considered more right-wing because they are more populist or communitarian in ideology, which generally indicates not being overly centrist.

Communitarianism as understood by Christian Democracy involves a centrist position as a third way alternative to liberal individualism and socialist collectivism.  And when they have called themselves "popular" parties, it means they aim to be parties of all social classes rather than pitting one against the other.

Of course. I didn't intend to contend that the FDP isn't economically to the right of the CDU/CSU, just not by quite as much as is usually suggested. On social issues such as gay marriage, the FDP is clearly to their left.

That's the beauty of European liberalism: to the right of some and to the left of others