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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

That's what constitutions are for.

I'll point out that banning parties who would seek to destroy democracy is part of the German constitution. Article 21. There's no irony here. What is being mooted is something deliberately introduced in the immediate aftermath of the Nazis and World War II, to prevent a reoccurrence.

(I've slightly lost the thread here, so I'm not 100% certain you're disagreeing.)

The irony is that banning political parties on the grounds of threatening the German state is exactly that the Nazis did after Hitler became chancellor with the Reichstag Fire Decree. And the same thing East Germany did to cement communist control.

"We have to disenfranchise you to protect democracy" is a self defeating idea.

I wasn't aware of that, my notion of a good constitution is that you should be comfortable with your worst enemy wielding the powers it grants.

I'm curious what checks there are on Article 21 then. It seems like a no brainer that an unfriendly government count just declare all their opposition enemies of democracy. How is that power limited?

Agree. The structural solution is a weaker, better checked and balanced Berlin. The classic form of that solution is enhanced federalism and devolution of power. But the EU offers another path: closer political integration.

It's a document. It can't do anything. You have to help enforce it's content.

Exactly, and because you're right, the Nazi's playbook is having some historic event - let's say, a Reichstag Fire [1] or something - disabling the constitution on day 1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire#Political_conse...

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