Read much Heinlein? I laughed at your Germany closed on Sundays thing. I lived in Germany in the early 1980s and went to college in Munich (My father was a diplomat in Bonn). I remember how bored we were Sunday because we had nothing to do. We ended up doing what the Germans did which was relaxing or hiking or whatever. Wouldn't that be a nice change here in the USA ?

I think the speed of change is the main driver of all this populism. People's brains can't handle such rapid change, we aren't wired for it. I like to tell people it's two steps forward and one step back. Civil rights in the USA is a great example. Change takes time.