SPD: "Together we decide (the future)"
Piraten Partei: "Why am I up here? It's not like you're going to go vote anyway."
Die Linke: "Share the wealth: Tax the wealthy!"
After being slightly disgusted by the "Die Linke" posters, bored by the SPD posters, and intrigued by the Piraten Partei posters I decided that it was a good time to find out really what it means to be a political party in Germany, and how one actually becomes a Chancellor. After hearing about something called a Wahl-O-Mat (read: Vote-O-Tron) I decided to give it a go myself. The user is tasked with deciding whether or not they agree with 30 or so current political issues, and then having his or her answers compared with the answers given by political parties currently running for a seat in the Bundestag.
After running through all the given questions once, I realized that there were a lot of things I didn't have an opinion on. Some issues, like whether or not to impose a general speed limit on German Autobahns (hell no) or whether or not Germany should be more culturally diverse (no joke) were pretty obvious for me. Other things, like whether or not there should be a minimum income law or whether the 1% should be taxed more were answered with "neutral". Not surprisingly, the Vote-O-Tron told me my answers matched up to about 67% with the SPD, the Socialist Democratic Party, with other parties not trailing far behind; a result I was neither surprised by or expecting, since I honestly didn't go in identifying myself with a certain party.
To give you an example of some of the political parties running, here are some campaign slogans from some popular, as well as not so popular parties:
CDU (Christian Democratic Union) : "to combine liberal, conservative, and christian ideals ... and to honor the christian picture of Man"
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (The Green Party) : "... ecological, social, democratic, and violent-free..."
NPD (National Democratic Party) : "... to prevent the disintegration of German history, culture, and race through conscious foreign immigration..."
REP (The Republicans (not what you think)) : " ... protection of the German-national country ... withdrawal from the European Union ... prevent immigrants from holding back economic growth ..."
FAMILIE (The Family Party) : " ... focus on family-oriented policies ... children have the right to vote and the right to free education ... pacifism as well as peace-keeping ..."
If you can tell, there's a very large spectrum of opinions, morals, and views to choose from. What surprised me the most was that poltical parties like the NPD, REP, and Die Linke, parties that supported the notion of being "Ausländerfeindlich", or hostile towards foreigners, still existed in Germany. While there are talks about whether or not political parties that are unconstitutional should be banned, something that I strongly oppose since we live in a free country, I am still surprised that there are people out there that are not only willing to vote for such a party but even represent it.
Another sad truth in politics in Germany is that the last voter turnout was very low. During the last election in 2009, only 70.8% of the elligible population cast a vote. By comparison, voter turnout in 1949 was 78%. Fortunately it isn't as bad as America's last election turnout, which makes everything else pale in comparison to it's 57.5%. As one of my friends who I've started talking to about politics once said, the more privileged the population gets, the less interested they are in who governs their country.
Come September 22nd, I will be able to shape the next four years of Germany's history: whether or not Angela Merkel is doing a good job, which party should get more seats in the Bundestag, and whether or not Germany will be able to start paying back its debt in 2015. It may not be much, but every vote does count, especially my own.
Yes your vote does count, but good luck determining what you are actually voting for. Take the US system, for example: many times I've heard that presidents are pundits and have very little actual influence over the US in the grand scheme. I never realized how true this was until I started paying attention.
ReplyDeleteThe US political system is mostly just a facade for corporate interests. Take the NRA (National Rifle Association) for example. They rate congressmen on how well they adhere to the NRA's standards. Receive a bad score and you can almost guarantee a smear campaign against you during the next election cycle. For a nation that is supposedly “for the people”, we really do a good job of screwing over our citizens wherever possible if it means the rich can pocket a few more millions.
But why don’t the voters realize this? Why don’t they wake up and make a change? It should be easy, right? No. Let’s break it down real quick. I like to classify voters into four groups:
First there are those who just don’t vote for any number of reasons.
Second are the voters who truly believe they are voting to make a difference, whether it is to support a candidate they like or prevent one they fear from taking office.
Third are the voters who vote against their own well-being. Think bible belt Christians. They will vote for whoever threw the most money and big words at them with most of the money coming from, you guessed it, corporations! Unfortunately they are also the largest group by far.
Fourth and finally are the thinkers. Young and educated, the thinkers see the system for what it is. Broken. Hopeless. What’s the point of voting if it only brings the same lack of change year after year? The rich will get richer because they control the entirety of the third group and manipulate the hell out of the second. The lack of interest in politics has little to do with feeling privileged and everything to do with the non-existent progress. We just lose all hope. The system is so far gone and corporate interests are so far entrenched it would take drastic measures to root them out. And no one has the energy for that these days, especially with all of our modern distractions like the gladiatorial games at the coliseum. I mean the internet and sports.
Think your country is any different?
While the US system can be used as a comparison, especially the four different types of voters, Germany has recently seen an influx of smaller, niche political parties gain in popularity due to your fourth group of voters starting to stand up and speak out. They still have a long way to go, but it's a lot better than simply idly standing by and letting other people control who runs your country.
DeleteC.G.P. Grey has video about why this, or rather First Past the Post, is probably a bad thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo
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