Huffpost: Germans float ban on far right party

[onetexan]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68029232

Germany is wrestling with a potentially explosive debate over whether to ban the far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

Germans have been shocked by revelations that senior figures attended a meeting where mass deportations were allegedly discussed.
A growing backlash has sparked large protests and public condemnation.
The AfD, which continues to poll second nationally, says it's being scandalously smeared by opponents.
‐--‐----------------
I wish we can do this with the GOP.

[RockRaven]

1. OTOH, Germany banning certain political parties sounds familiar

in a bad, bad way.

[Silent3]

2. The Nazi party has been banned for a long time now

I've never been sure it that was the best way to prevent a comeback of Nazis in a democracy, but it hasn't so far shown any signs of being a slippery slope toward greater loss of democratic freedoms in general.

And let's face it, AfD is just Nazis by another name.

[RockRaven]

3. Point is: creating/exercising powers against undesirables sounds great until

it is the undesirables who capture that power and wield it against everyone else.

Remind me... Those Nazis who have been banned for some time now in Germany... What did they do with other political parties in their turn?

[Polybius]

4. I don't like bans on political Parties

If the people want them, they should be able to vote for them. If the people don't like them, they won't get voted in. Simple as that.

[Elessar Zappa]

5. Germany's not the US.

They don’t tolerate far-right parties due to their recent history. Remember, the Nazis got in power legally. Germany is trying to prevent that from happening again.

[Polybius]

6. I get banning the Nazi Party

But don't ban extreme anti-immigration Parties and call it a ban on "hate" and lump them all together. People have a right to vote for extreme anti-immigration Parties, however unpopular that it may seem.

[Elessar Zappa]

7. It's Germany's choice.

In the US, we’d have that right but Europe doesn’t have our first amendment and most Europeans are ok with that.