When German Chancellor Angela Merkel introduced the "Dialogue on Germany's Future", the intent was to "stimulate a nationwide debate and gain food for thought and recommendations for public policy action", according to Fraunhofer ISI. As part of the plan, an online poll was created for Germans to voice certain ideas on issues important to them.
Well, hopefully Merkel's got a big appetite because she's got more than enough food for thought now.
The appetizer wasn't much of a suprise, with 152,000 Germans voicing their support for the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, according to Reuters.
But the second course, also focusing on decriminalization, maybe did; 93,000 Germans expressed their support of overturning a 1969 that decriminalized sexual abuse of animals, aka bestiality — a somewhat controversial law due to be revised (a German newspaper earlier this year warned of the rise of "animal brothels").
For her third course, Merkel was given a healthy dose of 157,000 German opinions on the Ottoman Turks systematic massacre of countless Armenians after World War I. With Turkey continuing to resist calling the massacre a genocide, Germans supported making it illegal to deny labeling it genocide. Given Turkey's attempts at joining the EU and their strong trading relations with Germany, Merkel quickly rejected this notion.
And for dessert, a few other popular policy ideas: planting trees to commemorate German reunification, increased political support for home births, and increasing the affordability of artificial insemination.
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