And then Christian Lindner also denounces the behavior of financial market players
Christian Lindner on his trip to the USA
Which: REUTERS
Vice-Chancellor Christian Lindner gave a lecture on liberalism at Princeton University in the USA, in a style that was uncharacteristic for him. However, the content should not only make party friends sit up and take notice.
Dhat was an appointment to the liking of FDP leader Christian Lindner. He was able to explain his idea of modern liberalism at the US elite university Princeton on Friday. To do this, he had left Washington early from the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, allowing himself to be driven through rush-hour traffic for a good four hours.
The German finance minister was invited by the economics faculty. And Lindner took his assignment for this early summer evening on campus very seriously: he was to give a “lecture”, give a lecture – and Lindner, very untypical for him, first read for 45 minutes in English before answering questions.
With the US flag to his left and around 100 students, doctoral students and professors in front of him, he drew the line in the wood-panelled lecture hall. From the American Declaration of Independence to Adam Smith, one of “the founding fathers of liberalism”, the philosopher John Rawls to the major political issues of the present.
Lindner analyzed the role of the state (“It has the task of the referee, not the player”), denounced the behavior of financial market players (“For too long we have accepted a situation in which profits are privatized, but losses are passed on to the general public” ) and commented on climate change (“I am convinced that technological advances in decarbonization are possible without sacrificing freedom and prosperity”).
The left-wing camp blames liberalism for exploitation, poverty and inequality, Lindner lectured. The right-wing camp sees traditions and cohesion in danger because allegedly the freedom of the individual is emphasized too much.
Liberals would have to deal seriously with both allegations, but without agreeing with the two camps, said the FDP leader. It was a sentence that is likely to fall in one way or another at the upcoming Liberal Party Congress in Berlin next weekend.
Princeton values equal opportunity
Just like this one: “All individuals have the same rights, what they differ in is what they make of it.” Lindner could tell his party friends that Princeton, although an elite university, attaches great importance to equal opportunities.
Beginning next semester, students won’t have to pay fees if their parents earn less than $100,000. Everyone, regardless of where they come from, should spend the best four years of their lives in Princeton, according to the claim. Lindner had a little more than three good hours there, including dinner.
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