Germany to Allow Domestic Military Deployment?

There are two articles from German sources that I felt necessary to share.  The first shows how Germany is following America's lead in militarizing their policing and the second addresses Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück's comments regarding America's fall as an economic superpower.

The AP article by David Rising from Berlin says that,Germany's governing coalition partners want to:

 ...change the constitution to allow for military deployment within the country if needed "to combat terrorism".

The article makes reference to the fact that many people are concerned about and hesitant to allow the German military to expand the role of soldiers domestically, considering their past experiences.  (If you are concerned about this same expansion in the U.S., please write some letters.)

Merkel's government had challenged the German constitution last year when Germany used Tornado fighter jets to secure airspace during last year's G8, while troops helped provide support to police controlling demonstrations.  They claimed that

 the deployment was necessary to provide technical and logistical support for the police.  The Greens party stated, at the time, that it was a creeping breach of the constitution.

In the Der Spiegle article, "America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role", it is pointed out that:

Merkel had never publicly criticized the United States this harshly and unapologetically. 

(It must have been the back rub that bought us time.)

In this regard, she enjoys the wholehearted support of her coalition government partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). In a speech before Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück of the SPD spoke of the end of the United States as a "superpower of the global financial system."

The banking crisis in the United States has impacted much in many directions, including "the respect the rest of the world once had for the US as an economic and political superpower".  The article points out that, 

The proud US investment banks with globally recognized names like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs have all gone bankrupt, been bought up or restructured. The American real estate market has essentially been nationalized. And the country's biggest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, has failed and been sold at a loss.

The author and many around the world contend, 

"Every bank that US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is currently forced to bail out with American government funds damages America's reputation around the world."

Are you writing your Congressional Representatives and Senators about what is going on or do you trust that they have it all in hand and know what America wants and needs?