The SPD in Germany is going to be 150 years old in 2013 (aka their next federal elections). That will make it the oldest political party in Germany. If you think about it, America is only just over 200 years old as a nation. That means they’ve been around nearly as long as we have and they’re still not entirely sure what they’re doing. Then again, neither do we. Somehow, in our big powerful nation we’ve been pin headed into two major parties whilst the rest waddle around like beheaded chickens and try to make noise. Germany on the other hand has, lets see…at least FIVE that make noise on a regular basis. That makes much more sense than having TWO and they have a much smaller (geographically and population wise) country than we do. Just makes one wonder if they have as many issues with political party disagreements among the populace as we do. And just imagine what a family dinner could become like if they are anything like us. KABOOM. I had a cousin who just got back from visiting Germany a couple weeks ago and asked him what he gathered of the politics there.
“By pragmatic, I mean that they are forced to compromise with other parties since, normally, multiple parties have to get together to form a government. From what I understand, voters are more forgiving of deviations from party platform since they understand that compromise is a necessary effect of having to share power.”-Jared Bauman (what’s the nice thing about smart cousins? The fact that they’re smart and you can ask them questions and they know how to explain things)
Of course, my group specifically was taking a look at the SPD, so how does that apply to them? Well…They hit some bumps in the road as of late what with their candidate being voted in as Chancellor and then going back on the party’s word and cutting welfare (which the people object to; both the cutting of welfare and the going back on one’s word), but who doesn’t make mistakes? Apparently, cutting welfare is not a popular decision for any party platform…There next plans include creating a minimum wage, shutting down nuclear reactors and favoring a Eurozone fix (which I bet most Germans do seeing as it was one of the only countries who benefited from the change to Euro). Well, good luck guys…I hope your new head man does you good.
Sources:
Jared Bauman
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