tl;dr: I fucked up and cannot vote for the German Election today. If you can, please, do me a favor, and vote. Thanks <3 \jv

(This post is written in English, but I tried to use a more German style of sentence writing. Thought that’s okay if you write about Germany.)

Dear Friends,

so, I have to admit: I do not vote for the German election today.

Believe me, I wish I could go voting today. I think it’s more important than ever to vote. Make your voice been heard.

We live in great times, where people can live a rich and peaceful life. Then, there seems to be a complete independent world (why would otherwise the well living people allow such a state to emerge and exist?), in which things go as bad as they can get. “Such a thing like the Syrian crises should never happen again. Causing so many refugees to leave a country”, I recall many people said. Sure. I guess that’s why someone holding the peace nobel price can stand in front of the camera and sort of pretend as if nothing happens, while hundred thousands have to leave their country. We have gigantic organizations that do good. Others abuse their strength to crunch their competitors. Markets get flooded with products that cause more harm for people than provide benefits, only because the natural alternatives are abandoned due to well executed marketing. Sitting at my desk in Brooklyn, I can point with my fingers in the direction where a bunch of people gathered this week. For a moment, I was holding in and thinking “wait, have I downloaded a Simpson episode or is this really happening?”, but it turned out to be the real-world Tagesschau. Showing an article from a building that should “unite”. Instead, the scenery was showing hate and made me frightened. Is World War III just around the corner? Hopefully not. Great technological advances are made today and “AI” has become a common buzzword. Every technological discovery can be used for good and bad: Splitting an atom can provide electrical energy and also wipe out entire civilizations. Let’s assume someone would come up with an “AI”, do you think the current capitalistic world would be ready for it? Is ready for such a leap in technology while society and politicians discuss about kill switches for robots, which, I think, is a discussion dancing around the main issue at hand.

While many non government institutions, corporations and so on have great power today, I believe the final control and how to execute law, justice and order is still in the hands of politicians (at least it should be, if there wouldn’t be lobbying…). They are to set the tone of how a country sounds, how it behaves and where it’s future is going. Beyond the decision making in their own country, German politicians have also great influence on the decision making in Europe and in the world. Their opinions and actions count.

If you care about any of these, if you are in Germany and did a better job than me, who missed to get his paperwork done via Briefwahl, and you have the privilege to vote, please make your vote happen and thereby influence the political direction of our country for the next 4 years.

Thanks. And enjoy your weekend,

julian