The Philosopher Merkel and her EU Philosophy

 
Key points in this article:

  • How is Merkel’s ideal of a world organization different from the UN or the EU?
  • Merkel’s political philosophy is visible in Kant’s “Perpetual Peace”
  • Are Trump and Merkel’s ideals really conflicting?

 
Angela Merkel has been leading Germany as Chancellor for 13 years. In that time, she has been acting as the guardian of the EU, but the EU is about to split. The cracks were first seen a few years ago.

The first incident was the Greek government’s debt crisis. Balanced budgets are hugely important to Germany, so when Greece revealed a larger than expected government debt, Germany hesitated in providing emergency budgetary assistance. This made them a target for international criticism. Even now in 2018 the Greek debt crisis has yet to be properly resolved.

Secondly, in 2015 a huge influx of refugees led to Britain’s decision, through a public poll, to leave the EU. In response to this, right-wing parties such as the anti-Euro party Alternative for Germany are now gathering steam.

In Italy the EU skeptic party, Five Star Movement, is now leading a coalition government. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban constructed a fence along the national border to prevent the influx of immigrants. Poland is now governed by an anti-immigrant conservative party called Law and Justice.

At one time, individual countries in Europe forced themselves to unite under the EU ideal. But we are now seeing splits in the flawed system, and the people are becoming increasingly dissatisfied.

 

Trump versus Merkel

As the leader of a key EU nation, Merkel stands in an awkward position. And strained relations with the U.S. have opened a can of worms.

The awkwardness began in her first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in March 2017. When the press asked them to shake hands they both looked in strange directions. They were like oil and water in their discussions on refugees and global organizations.

Trump’s political creed is to respect each country’s sovereign rights. In his address to the UN General Assembly in September, Trump emphatically repeated the words “sovereignty”, “patriotism” and “independence”, just like he did last year.

Trump does not think that international organizations like the United Nations and the WTO are superior to individual countries. He maintains that international organizations can only function effectively if each individual nation assumes responsibility for achieving independence and progress.

Merkel, on the other hand, holds tight to the idea that we should protect confederated organizations both on a European and global scale. This is close to the idea of globalism.

Why does she so steadfastly hold on to this idea? Some critics even go as far as to assert that Germany is using the EU to establish an Empire and expand its influence. But is that what Merkel is trying to achieve?

In this politically and diplomatically sensitive time for Germany, Master Ryuho Okawa, founder and CEO of Happy Science, recorded a spiritual interview with the guardian spirit of Chancellor Merkel on September 28.

Merkel’s guardian spirit revealed the astounding truth of her past life as Immanuel Kant, the influential German philosopher of the Enlightenment era.

This new fact helps us understand Merkel’s political philosophy and where it originates. The spiritual message unveiled Merkel’s hidden inner thoughts and her reasons for opposing Trump.

 

Merkel’s Ideal of a World Organization Is Different From the UN or the EU

When the interviewer asked, “What are you trying to achieve as German Chancellor?” Merkel’s guardian spirit answered this way:

“I want to make the world one big organization to achieve world peace.
The EU was the first step, and the next step is a global organization: something that has more power than the current United Nations.”

 
But the organization cannot be totalitarian, the spirit said. All countries must be equal and independent, but each should publicly share their own national problems so that everyone can debate them. The country will then follow the conclusions that are reached by the group.

 

Merkel’s Political Philosophy Seen in the Light of Kant’s “Perpetual Peace”

This is consistent with Kant’s vision. His 1795 essay “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” was Kant’s answer to the question of how to end war and conflict. In it, he proposed the establishment of an international federation of free states.

Conflicts between states often end up escalating into war. And in Kant’s time, the age of colonialism, people were taken from the colonies and forced into slavery.

In his thinking about freedom, Kant maintained that freedom within a country could be protected when the powers of government were separated. And that there was a need to end war to break free from their savage state. In other words, Kant thought that peace was something that people had to create with their own hands.

To solve both problems at once, Kant proposed the creation of a global organization that would help bring about peace.

We must not, however, misunderstand Kant’s views by thinking that he was advocating for a world government with no state borders. Just as Merkel’s guardian spirit said, the principle aim was to create a global federation of free states.

If a despotic government emerged on a global level, each individual country and its people would lose their freedom to shape the future. For Kant, each individual citizen was an end not a means. The whole purpose of a federation of free states was to protect the freedom of action in the public realm on a global scale.

In fact, Kant did not like the idea that minority opinions could be drowned out. In the spiritual message, Merkel’s guardian spirit (Kant) suggested that there should be discussions that take into consideration a large variety of opinions. “We need public discourse during peace time,” he said.

With the importance that Merkel places on public discussion, she probably sees Trump as a man who is invoking state power too heavily.

But in the spiritual message Kant also acknowledged the limitations of the EU and the UN. So, Merkel and Kant’s ideals are clearly different from the kind of internationalism that advocates transnational dependence.

After WWI U.S. President Woodrow Wilson put into action Kant’s proposals in “Perpetual Peace” and created the League of Nations, which developed into the United Nations. Unfortunately, when communist China became a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it became clear that the UN was drifting away from Kant’s vision of a federation of free states.

 

Trump and Merkel: Different Paths to World Peace

Trump’s and Merkel’s ideals are actually aligned when it comes to creating a new world order that brings an end to all war.

To do this, Trump emphasizes patriotism. For instance, he is trying to reduce China’s trade surplus to deprive them of military funding. In this way, he is trying to end China’s communist hegemony through a bilateral strategy.

But this doesn’t mean that Merkel denies the values of sovereign rights and patriotism. Like Trump, she hates war and wants to establish peace. They are just following different paths to the same goal.

Merkel’s guardian spirit closed the spiritual message by saying, “The Chinese have respect for the German people. We will be the ones to change China.” Perhaps we are about to see a change in Sino-German relations.

The greatest question now is how Trump and Merkel can reconcile their differences to effectively combat China’s menace. We will wait and see how this unfolds.

It is true that the EU was constructed upon Kant’s ideals, but Merkel’s guardian spirit was not blind to its limitations. Still, Merkel will continue to pursue her ideal of a federation of free states. Her next big task is to come to terms with the difference between ideals and reality.

The following topics were also discussed in the spiritual message:

  • Why did Germany accept refugees?
  • The problems with one-party communist rule
  • The coming collapse of the EU
  • Will American laws become a global unifying agent?
  • Ideals for the next century
  • The totalitarian aspects of Confucianism
  • How Merkel wants to resolve the China problem
  • Merkel’s guardian spirit’s devout faith
 
The Philosopher Merkel and her EU Philosophy
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