Not sure why they did the transition like that.
Because that's exactly what the original class 3 allowed you to drive. Imagine what would have happened if they told everyone with a driving license at that point that it's now only viable for 3,5t vehicles without a trailer and they need to make a new license to keep driving their transporters, small trucks or using their trailers.
The shopping cart test for a community. [...] Culture is learned from your peer group.
Perfect example... Germany universally has this deposit system for their shopping carts but bypassed the handling and inserting of a coin into the cart at the height of covid.
Since then I have barely seen any reversal there. People still return their carts although they don't need to get their coin back where the system is still disabled. Or they just conveniently forget to use the system and still bring their carts back without locking them there where the system is operational again.
The actual deposit was basically only needed for the learning phase. After this it just works automatically.
But that's the point. The same exact same vehicle rated in Europe will not have any rating in the US and they will tell you how you need a truck to tow.
But there are still a lot of people on the road that did learn to drive before that kind of license. I did a class 3 license in Germany right before the transition...
So I have my A, A1, AM, B, BE, C1, C1E license (C1E limited to 7,5t instead of 12) without ever having learned to tow anything.
And in Germany the CDU being in government most of the FDR's existence (and for 16 years before the last election) are loudly talking about being the "alternative" Germany needs (not coincidently choosing that term when the far-right AfD is the "Alternative for Germany") to fix all the decade long issues... after less than 2 years in opposition.
Conservatives finally understood a simple truth. They only need the votes of their rich clients and the poor gullible morons for a majority and can ignore anyone between. And the populism used to achieve that is much easier and cheaper than an actual political program.
The greens parties have a similar issue. People know them for ecology and ? People don’t know the other parts of the program of the greens parties. They have to stop speaking about ecology and begin with the other topics
And right here you are falling for propaganda without even realizing it. It's not the green parties failing to talk about other issues. It's other (usually right wing - as basically all greens are also socially left) parties drowning this out, because they know they can divide people by pushing their noses into the ecological problems (and the economic hardships naturally linked to trying to reverse centuries of exploitation).
(Btw... Just like it's also never actually the left parties talking all day about "woke" topics. That's also the right-wing parties creating an imaginary discussion because it's divisive.)
This comment and the fact that it's also massively upvoted perfectly demonstrates the problem. Not an analysis of the problem or an solution, but THE problem: You are brain-washed by propaganda and living in some opposite-world were right is left and left is right.
So let's start at the top:
"But 60% of the potential right voters say they just vote them out of protest."
Nope, that's bullshit. That's an excuse. And that quota will decrease with "voting fascist" becoming socially accepted behavior.
(Also, just like the last time the fascists will not get more votes until they come to power. They will be elevated to power by other parties, the ones pretending to refuse any cooperation today. That's another 70-80% -those proclaiming to never form a government with the AfD- that is completely imaginary and just cheap talk. For some parties this might be actually true. For a lot of people it isn't. And the weakest link right now is the political failures for decades now leading the biggest/conservative party with his own brand of right-wing populism.)
"It wouldn’t be that hard for the other parties to turn that ship around, but I don’t see anything happening."
Because that's also bullshit. There is no simple real life solution to imaginary problems and invented scape goats. Only if you believe the AfD's propaganda already you believe in non-existing fantasy measures that the governing parties simply refuse to take.
"The big parties are following their utterly liberal ultra capitalist line"
And now you totally lost it. Yes, there is a party with an ultra capitalist line aiming for no social secuitry net, no taxes for the rich. It's called the AfD. It's in their program even, as they don't need to lie when most people are too lazy to actually start reading it over the propaganda fed to you in easier form.
Not surprisingly, the people wanting this know. Or who do you think is financing the AfD? Billionaires, old remains of aristocracy, multi-billion "familiy business" pretending to be middle-class, rich land owners. Those are the AfD clients. You are just a tool.
"The problem is our left party is too busy with wokeness topics"
And the next right-wing narrative. "Woke" is a right-wing invention. There are also no "woke topics" heavily pushed by left parties. It's the right that is doing all the talking. They again invented some imaginary issue -in this case things like "gender inclusive language pushed by the left"- to fight against. The problem as usual: The issue doesn't exist. They fight against an imaginary forced use of certain language, while nobody is forcing anyone. They are also the only ones actually regulating how we are allowed to speak (AfD and CDU locally banned use of gender inclusive language in parliaments already).
The Afd (and to a lower degree the conservatives) are the ones pushing the issue to have something to rally their voters against. Here's who is actually talking about Gender all day:
"And our left still has a “Russia problem” [...] So people vote for the right."
No, the Left is very fragmented and diverse, so they have probably still a few people individually more attached to Russia than the West. The actual Party with a "Russia problem" is the AfD again. They got partly financed by Russia, they parrot Kremlin taking points. But -as seen- you already live in a propaganda-induced alternative reality. So why should one more delusion matter, right?
"I still hope a new left party would emerge"
Let me guess? Some new left party, like that clown-show Wagenknecht is celebrating... parroting far-right talking points and Russian propaganda while pretending to be left? A.k.a. the living embodiment of the horseshoe or "far-right for pussies afraid to openly stand for their far-right bullshit"?
Congratulations. You are spreading AfD bullshit while either pretending or being so confused by propaganda to actually believing to fight against the far-right.
Sorry, to say that. But if you are an average example of the voters (and the fact that this piece of written diarrhea is heavily upvoted supports my fears here...) then we are truly and utterly lost and the fascists will win.
Still using an S7E to this day as the battery seems basically indestructable...
The one single weak spot? I actually had to replace the glue.
Basically the US and heavily english-speaking countries easier infected with the same brain-rot the US' corporate ruling class calls "culture".
(IOs/Android vs. english-speakers vs. income)
The US in brainlessly-adoring-corporations centric.
Which is exactly the reason while Android is shrinking in the US while Google is growing.
"We Nazis..." shows a rare honesty at least...
Because populism works. You invent or change facts to create simple problems or simplify complex problems ad absurdum and then present easy solutions. People like easy solutions and tend to believe it when it would be to much work to actually fact check the whole premise.
Which is exactly what you did there. For this reason a lot of people just quickly read through it decided "yeah, sound logical" and upvoted. And for exactly the same reason I picked the most bullshit claims from your comment in order and described how and why they are bullshit.
Your response? Not only ignoring the facts I mentioned but explicitly saying that it "doesn’t matter. What matters is what the public sees and hears about them."... Fine, so you reject reality for narratives and actually think the latter is what matters. Good to know.
That also explains why you feel attacked by facts and perceive me as hateful... you do know that there actually is a medical term for people choosing the fantasy they want to believe in over factual reality, don't you?