I once spent a night in Wuppertal just to ride this thing. Rode it from end to end, and then again the next morning. What was unexpected was how modern it is. You might expect a rickety historic tourist contraption, but in fact it’s a modern metro with great views and an unusual ride.

As I understand it, in most countries the railway would be completely uneconomical since it has no off-the-shelf parts and there are no tourists in Wuppertal, but in Germany it makes some sense since it can be used as a sort of training bed for local engineering students and industry.

Not if the alternative is that people begin to see the role and the person as the same thing. That’s the dream of every would-be dictator. A certain chancellor of Germany knew this very well in 1934 when he abolished the titles of Chancellor and President and made the army swear its oath to him personally.

This is just standard political theory: to protect democracy, respect its institutions. Absolutely does make sense to me.

Yet the idea underpinning it is sound. It’s to separate the office from the individual. If you attach reverence to the role, not the person, you make it easier to change the person and avoid dictatorship.