Apparently, at least.
Germany – finally – has a new government, after some hiccups not just on the election day, but at least since the Christian Democrats crossed in January an assumed red line
In a week that saw the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, politicians in Berlin have descended into panic and fury, all caused by a toxic cocktail of recent terror attacks, immigration policies and populism. The problem may not be of Merz’s own making, but he’s been spooked by U.S. President Donald Trump into doing what mainstream politicians have vowed never to do — break Germany’s so-called “firewall” and pander to the far right.
(https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-far-right-crashes-through-the-firewall/; 09/05/2025)
The Vatican, the global congregation of Catholics, has a new pope: Leo XIV. Interesting is the choice of the name: Leo XIII, who reigned from 1878 to 1903, is best known for his contribution to the catholic social teaching.
While writing, the United States are governed by the Trump administration since 109 days and with it there is the quasi-government body: the DOGE. Elsewhere (Populism – distraction of a problem. Deep roots of today’s political concerns; https://link.springer.com/book/9783658482664?srsltid=AfmBOoq-0hiLPwfo_2dvaK8lr2XPmgegWkRSqHu7XHpbo_ER65YSy7aP#about-authors) I wrote:
While Musk, as head of the DOGE, makes outspoken reference to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, another factual reference, revealed by a brief historical excursus, should not be forgotten: doge had been historically the title of elected lords and heads of state in Italian city-states as Venice and Genoa. Then (as today) the electoral process had been questionable in terms of democratic rules and the etymological reference is telling: the Latin dux had been seen as spiritual leader or military commander. This reflects the strategy behind the planned massive cuts in public offices.
And while this must first be seen as a political matter, a change of the priorities of the government, it is much more:
… it’s also a beautiful — you know, as a real estate developer, you know, I’m a real estate developer at heart, when you get rid of that artificially drawn line — somebody drew that line many years ago, like a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country. When you look at that beautiful formation, when it’s together, I’m a very artistic person. But when I looked at that, I said, that’s the way it was meant to be.
(https://nationalpost.com/news/world/donald-trump-mark-carney-meeting-quotes; 09/05/2025)
The beauty, Trump talked about when meeting the Canadian Premier, is a paradox: on the one hand the America that is Great Again, on the other hand – yes, it seems to be true:
Mille viae ducunt hominem per saecula Romam
(presumably going back to the formulation Diversae sunt semitae vitae, sed una via Veritatis that can be found in the work Liber de planctu Naturae written by Alanus ab Insulis; later, Jean de La Fontaine suggested Tous chemins vont à Rome (livre XII, fable22)
And the truth proclaimed by Rome, namely pope Leo XIII, can be summarised under the heading “principle of subsidiarity”. In short it means that the smallest entity takes responsibility unless it is not able to fulfil what is necessary. Only then the “higher instance” will step in, and if this instance is not in a position … – to arrive finally at the notion put forward by John Heywood (1546)
Pray and shift each one for himself, as he can.
Every man for himself, and God for us all.
Of course, there are different interpretations of subsidiarity – Nell-Breuning for instance suggesting that it does not mean withdrawal of the state; in fact, it means that central instances are responsible to make sure that the socio-economic conditions in the widest sense must be geared to promoting the individuals and “smaller units” so that they can live up to their best (cap)abilities – a complex challenge that is extremely difficult to design. Be that as it may, it was a response by the Church to the growing labour movement in the second half of the 19th century and, in particular, a rejection of the works of Marx and Engels, who developed socialism from utopia into a science.
The reality at this stage suggests the opposite: leaving people out in the cold and then even suggesting that this is a matter of freedom. While Trump may be a dangerous maniac, and while there are other politicians who tend to replicate his mental strains, the core is, as always, the economic strive behind it. Whereas it is frequently suggested that big players, particularly those from Silicon Valley and the ‘new industries,’ are currying favour, the opposite is true. At the very least, Trump’s view of subsidiarity suits them down to the ground. Finally, they have an excuse to do away with what they see as inconvenient legal entitlements. Above all, everything can now be quickly exploited in terms of labour market policy and labour law. Two examples:
I
Uber is cracking down on remote work, return-to-office plans, and other benefits.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the changes might prompt Uber employees to look for jobs elsewhere.
Tech companies have been pulling back on remote work and other employee benefits.
(https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-khosrowshahi-workers-have-lots-of-opportunities-elsewhere-2025-5; 09/05/2025)
Leaving aside that these are complex issues – if remote work is an employee benefit is one question; another is to which extent it is part of precarisation, in fact undermining legally compliant employment and working conditions; important for the present discussion is that measures are actually guided by the principle of risk aversion from the side of employers and shifting material, social and mental costs on employees.
II
The nationalism of the Trump administration is limited in some way, namely by an non-Kantian view on the categorial imperative, suggesting
Feel free to do unto others what you would not have them do unto you
Looking at the news, then, sometimes one cannot believe that what one sees is true:
Stockholm rejects ‘bizarre’ US letter urging city to scrap diversity initiatives. City official says it will not comply with request seeking to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/08/stockholm-rejects-us-letter-urging-city-to-reverse-diversity-initiatives; 09/05/2025
We find this headline in The Guardian (8.5.2024), referring to an article in the Swedish Dagens Nyheter one day earlier (USA:s ambassad kräver lydnad av Stockholms stad: ”Bisarrt”; https://www.dn.se/sverige/usas-ambassad-kraver-lydnad-av-stockholms-stad-bisarrt/; 09/05/2025)
While such rebuke is laudable, it must be seen as problematic that it is laudable instead of being a matter of course. And Rome, to be precise: the Vatican may open up in parts, but when cardinal Robert Francis Prevost turned to be pope Leo XIV, he showed up in the traditional attire (a bit more about the emperors and and new clothes) – which way he will be moving is at this stage obviously open. At least we must look at the following:
• In his History of Civilisation, Henry Thomas Buckle emphasises in the Chapter on the Comparison between Moral and Intellectual Law that progress does not come from moral laws which he classifies as static. Intellectual laws, and he means generation and application of knowledge, is the dynamic character of history and only the progressing here will have a positive effect.
• Reason for optimism? The new pope, as the previous one, graduated in science: Francis in chemistry, Leo in maths. Is this a sign for the catholic church turning more attention to sober analysis and rational development strategy development? – we must not forget that the catholic church needed 360 years to declare publicly that Galileo Galilei was condemned on the basis of a grave errors (“gli errori commessi”) – to come to this conclusion, a special committee studied the various documents etc. for 11 years. It then may be that optimism needs to be curbed after all.
• What remains central: any progress must be defined by rights – and here the church is moving slowly, very slowly. The good deeds are valuable – be they good deeds by the church or by foundations like they are run by the priests of money in the Silicon Valley (table below created by ChatGPT).
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Looking back, I see my assessment of Pope Francis (‘Primavera vaticana?’, January 2015; in: entelequia; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280056642_Primavera_vaticana; 09/05/2025) as far too optimistic; and I would be glad if my presented view on Leo XIV is too pessimistic.