Final Word from Thursday, November 30, 2017

Four of the nine parties in the Czech Parliament are born democrats. ODS, SPD, ČSSD and KDU-ČSL all have "democracy" or "democratic" in their name. By this measure, ANO, the Pirates, the Communists, TOP 09 and the STAN mayors' group aren't "democratic" at all. Two of these "non-democratic" parties, TOP 09 and STAN, are nevertheless members of the Democratic Bloc. So are two full-fledged "democrats," ODS and KDU, which makes this a quasi-democratic hodgepodge. Adding to the confusion, one more "democratic" party (ČSSD) and another "non-democrat" (the Pirates) were also invited to join, leaving only three parties on the wrong side of history. ANO, SPD and the Communists make up some sort of Undemocratic Bloc. How can that be, though, when voters democratically gave them 57.5% of the seats in Parliament? Czechs must be real anti-democrats. Alas, "democracy" hasn't been such a misnomer in this neck of the woods since the GDR was dissolved. [Czech Republic KSČM German Democratic Republic]