EDITORIAL - No matter how good a government is

It seems like a plot straight out of a Hollywood movie. Last week German authorities thwarted an alleged coup that sought to topple and replace the federal government.

The German government said a group called the Patriotic Union was trying to bring about chaos and provoke a civil war so they could install a monarchist government in the tradition of the old German Reichs.

The police have already raided and searched 130 different locations all over Germany where they seized caches of weapons and communication equipment. They have also arrested 25 people including the central figure in the plot, Heinrich Reuss, a businessman who also calls himself Prince Heinrich XIII.

Bold as the plot was, there is no chance it would have succeeded. And if the coup plotters did somehow manage to install such a government in place it would not last long; Germany will never again accept a monarchy, it has adjusted too well to being a democracy and is practically flourishing as Europe’s best-performing economy.

This unsettling development shows that it’s no longer just in the US where democracy is under threat. And also that more and more people around the world are becoming more radicalized and willing to act on their convictions, even violently.

When you think about it, Germany is actually one of the best examples of a successful democracy. Considering how they have evolved from a pseudo-monarchy in the early twentieth century, then a failed republic in post-World War I, then a fascist regime in World War II, then being split in two before the Cold War only to be united four decades later, it has adapted, adjusted well, and even thrived under this form of government that is relatively new to them.

Not only that, Germany has overcome obstacles to become the central location for business in Europe and is also the world’s fourth-largest economy in terms of GDP. It is the main driving force of the European Union and a country that many others look up to.

However, that still doesn’t mean much to groups like the Patriotic Union, for whatever reason they may have.

This should serve as a warning for even the most successful of democracies; no matter how good the government of a country is doing, there will always be those who want to bring it down and install another in its place.