In Baden-Württemberg they are justifiably proud of their many tinkerers and inventors. The Green Prime Minister is also proud. However, he doesn’t seem to have really understood what the Ländle is actually famous for.
“Clever ideas are needed”: Baden-Württemberg’s Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.
The first match, the first bra, the first modern wind turbine, the plastic dowel, the high-pressure cleaner: in Baden-Württemberg they are justifiably proud of their inventiveness. It essentially consists of someone recognizing a deficiency and then inventing a product to remedy it. The Baden-Württemberg inventor either sells this product all over the world himself with great success, or another compatriot does it in his place. At least that’s how it used to be in the federal state that also has the nice nickname Ländle. Today there is «The Länd» respectively «Clever country».
With these neologisms, the green-black state government is trying to manage the proud heritage in terms of regional marketing. The contributions of the state father are particularly interesting: Winfried Kretschmann from the Greens does not present the inventive spirit of Baden-Württemberg, but turns it on its head: His solution to the current shortage – namely affordable electricity and affordable gas – does not lie in the proclamation of an ideas competition for alternative energy resources, but in the affirmation of the shortage.
In the video for the campaign, the 74-year-old first talks about the war in Ukraine, which is now also affecting the lives of people in Baden-Württemberg. In order to overcome the crisis, everyone would have to tackle it now. “Clever ideas are required,” says Kretschmann, “not for nothing are we the country of inventors and tinkerers.”
The prime minister then presented the first clever idea himself – by kneeling in front of a radiator and reducing the temperature from level 3 to level 1. Just one degree less saves six percent of the heating costs, explains the Green and then advises his country children to turn off the heating at night.
It is worth watching this video. As a former Maoist, Kretschmann may see a clever use of resources in cold apartments. But the message of his campaign is actually the opposite of what has made Baden-Württemberg famous around the world: In the “Cleverländ” lack is no longer overcome with brains, but endured. Baden-Württemberg, the home of the economically particularly successful German inventors, shrinks to the size of a match head. Just without fire.