Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Inside German Politics
Townhall.com ^ | April 21, 2013 | Mike Shedlock

Posted on 04/21/2013 6:12:46 PM PDT by Kaslin

Inquiring minds in the US note the upcoming German election and may be wondering about the platforms of the major political parties. Reader Bernd from Germany explains.

Die Linke (The Left): Die Linke is made up of the former SED/PDS (The East German Communist Ruling Party), some former West German Communist and Socialist Parties and a “rebel group” of the SPD. They all have merged and are now called "Die Linke". By and large they have a communist/socialist platform, albeit not Stalinist. Their main requests are: dissolve NATO and replace it with a new organization to include Russia in it, end all wars, control or nationalize all relevant banks and some crucial industries, increase support for the poor, raise taxes for the rich (above income of 60k Euros gradually go to 75%), introduce a stiff wealth and inheritance  tax. They are pro Euro and want the introduction of Eurobonds immediately. To alleviate the economic crisis in Europe they advocate some serious deficit spending for social and work programs. They have voted against ESM; EFSF and Cyprus deal in Parliament.

SPD (Social Democrats): SPD is the grand old Social Democratic Party, with a wonderful and long tradition. SPD originated from the worker's movement. Its first party program is from 1869. It the only party that tried to stop Hitler's power grab by opposing the emergency laws in 1933. Many went to concentration camps for opposing Hitler. In post-World War II Germany SPD provided three Chancellors, Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Gerhard Schröder. All three Chancellors were major reformers in Germany for one or the other topic.  SPD lost its original power base in the wake of Schröder's reforms in the early 2000s. SPD is a staunch pro Euro party. They also want Eurobonds immediately, as well as a common fiscal policy, a bank union and a quick unification of Europe.

Die Grünen (The Green Party): Die Grünen started as a mix of 1968 communists/socialists and anti-nuclear energy activists in West Germany. The second part is made up of some left over former East German anti SED “rebels” who helped to bring down East Germany.  Today this is the party for so the so-called "politically correct". In Germany we call them the Latte Macchiato Moms/Dads. The typical party member is a well-paid Government official or teacher with a work week of 36 hours. They believe firmly in manmade climate change and want to tax and spend their way to eliminate the CO-2 footprint. No amount of money is too much for preventing climate change. They are staunch pro Euro advocates similar to the SPD.

Freie Demokratische Partei FDP (Free Democratic Party): originated from a mix of former liberal parties during the Weimar Republic with an originally clear idea on liberalism. The FDP once strongly supported human rights, civil liberties, and international openness, but has shifted from the center to the center-right over time. Today’s main goal is to get at least 5% of the popular vote, otherwise they will have no representation in parliament. They are a coalition partner to Merkel's CDU party but most of them would be hard pressed to state why. FDP may not pass the 5% threshold in the next election. FDP states that they wish Europe to return to the “No-Bail out Clause” and the Maastricht Agreement, however, in Parliament they voted for a massive breach of both agreements, following Merkel’s position.

CDU (Christian Democratic Union): CDU is a center-right, typically Catholic, typically pragmatic popular party. It is the party of most Chancellors now including Angela Merkel. I call it the "yes Chancellor Club". Merkel calls herself pragmatic, some German people call her "Mutti". Mutti in German means a cunning, but one minded pragmatist, who will reprimand/control her husband for coming home late from a bar. CDU is pro-euro but against Eurobonds. Under Merkel CDU has lost its profile and has made some erratic shifts in position, which is a major turnoff for many supporters. Notably Merkel’s agreement to the breach of all EU-Agreements and her shift to a so called “green energy” has alienated many voters.

CSU (Christian Social Union): CSU is the Bavarian sister to the CDU. Whereas CDU operates in 15 States, CSU is in Bavaria only, where it traditionally gets 50 plus percent of popular votes, thus catapulting it above 5% on federal level. Voter participation in Bavaria is traditionally above 75%. CSU follows Merkel, but tensions are rising. Many CSU members are far from convinced that Merkel is right. Most of legal obstacles against Merkel's Euro policies in front of the Federal Constitution Court come from members of the CSU. Due to its high degree of organization and its firm foundation in the center of Bavarian populace, CSU is rather influential in German Federal Politics.

Alternative für Deutschland) AfD (Alternative for Germany): AfD is a liberal-conservative party supported by many German economists. More than two-thirds of its initial supporters hold doctorates. Its main position is a return of the EU to the original meaning of the Maastricht agreement, alternatively a return to national currencies. The second major topic is the strengthening of German Democracy, advocating a Swiss – like model. In April 2013, the party held its first convention in Berlin, which was attended by about 1500 supporters. The convention elected the party leadership and adopted the party platform. The three elected speakers are economist Bernd Lucke, the entrepreneur Frauke Petry, and the publicist Konrad Adam. The key demand of AfD is to provide a mechanism for countries to exit the Eurozone. In old Germany, "liberal" was in regards to Civil Rights, not free-flowing money or other policies those in the US may associate with the word. Liberal for AfD is a bit different than for the current FDP

Mish Note:

Reader Bernd is not (not Bernd Lucke, the economist and AfD elected speaker). I will have election predictions next week from Reader Bernd.
 

Explosive Video on Ending Fractional Reserve Lending and Bank Corruption at Philadelphia Fed Conference

At an economic conference at the Philadelphia Fed, academics gathered to discuss fixing the banking system, including ending fractional reserve lending. The video is quite entertaining to say the least.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University really lays into the banking system a few minutes into the recording. Play it!

SR 76 Wall Street


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Germany
KEYWORDS: germany

1 posted on 04/21/2013 6:12:46 PM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Which party do all the muslims vote for?


2 posted on 04/21/2013 6:14:09 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Which party do all the muslims vote for?

Actually neither, they come to the Western world to spread their h#ll.
To dissolve any Western country of free expression, Christian/Judeo practice and women’s rights~ and that’s just the beginning.


3 posted on 04/21/2013 6:42:19 PM PDT by Isabel2010
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

AfD is the party to watch. We’ll see how well they do with their platform.


4 posted on 04/21/2013 6:53:45 PM PDT by Amberdawn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
And then there is the National Bocialist Party, headed up by a certain Mr. Hilter.


5 posted on 04/21/2013 7:00:31 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Amberdawn; BillyBoy; GeronL; Cincinna; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; UKConservative

I was wondering why I never heard of them, it’s cause they are BRAND new. I doubt they’ll do anything but cost Merkel votes. They are polling under the 5% they need to win list seats (they have districts like us but extra seats are doled out from a party list to make the result proportional, you vote twice, for a candidate in your district and for a list).

Merkel’s FDP coalition partners have seen their support eroded (this seems to happen all the time with JR. coalition partners, the similar Progressive Democrat party in Ireland actually went out of business) it’s a third of what it was in the election. They might not get 5% either, (you could also meet the threshold by winning 3 district seats, FDP has zero)

I don’t know if Merkel can win a majority on her own. That means a “Grand coalition” with the Socialists since the Socialists plus Greens won’t have a majority either and no one wants to work with the “former” communists, Die Linke.


6 posted on 04/21/2013 11:48:24 PM PDT by Impy (All in favor of Harry Reid meeting Mr. Mayhem?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Impy
>> AfD is a liberal-conservative party <<

In related news, Germany has recent create a new chain of vegetarian-carnivore restaurants, debuted an exciting new child friendly-adults only TV channel, and has a new ministry of war-pacifism.

7 posted on 04/22/2013 12:04:07 AM PDT by BillyBoy ( Impeach Obama? Yes We Can!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Thanks for the informative post.


8 posted on 04/22/2013 12:26:47 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BillyBoy; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican

Liberal doesn’t always mean the same in thing in Europe that it means here. It often means what it used to mean. Many “Liberal” parties in Europe are center-right, others are centrist. The liberal FDP is to the CDU’s right on economics. The PD’s in Ireland were also what we would call conservative on economics (also liberal on social issues, and the FDP is pro-Eu, most liberal parties are).

We pretty much do are our thing here (just look at the Red/Blue nonsense)

There is some muddling with liberal conservatism and conservative liberalism both being things,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_conservatism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_liberalism

The Lib Dems in the UK are the exception. In Europe that is called “social liberalism”, and that means left-liberals who love the modern welfare state, it doesn’t mean what we mean when we say “social liberal” although those parties are invariably also pro-abortion/pro-gay and so fit our definition of “social liberal” too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_liberalism

That article is all about economic issues, not what we call “social issues” today in the US.

As you know the Liberal Party is Australia is the main party of the right there. Same thing with the Liberal Democrats in Japan (and the bad guys are just the Democrat), they are conservative and have nothing in common with the UK Liberal democrats.

Then you have the Liberal party in Canada which fits our definition to a t.

The Radical party in France was pushed to the center by newer more leftist parties and is today a small centrist party. Some so called “Radicals” in France were even center right since no one wanted to call themselves “conservative” after the French Revolution. Conservative meant monarchist in people’s eyes.

The left nowadays is very “reactionary” because they refuse to reform the failed welfare state. I would “radically” change it. In my mind the 2 words have switched places since big government is the norm now.

It gets stranger.

In Denmark Venste (which literally means left) is a historic liberal party that is now a major center-right party, completely out of whack with the modern definition of “left”, but they never changed the name, so have the same name in their language as the communists do in Germany. The Colorado Party (literally Red) is in almost exactly the same position in Uruguay where they are now allied with their old rivals the Blancos, they moved to the right.

The Colorado Party in Paraguay which once had one party rule is also conservative. Those are 2 conservative parties that have to use red.

Not really related but in Ireland you have the 2 center-right parties that are still hated enemies cause they were on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War in the 20’s. Given how long it took conservative Southern democrats to join the GOP it may be a while before they are willing to work together. You have conservatives like Auh2oRepublican and commie swine in the same party in Puerto Rico because the party is based on support for statehood.

The old Progressive Conservatives in Canada. It goes in and on.

It’s hard to keep up. You can’t judge a party by it’s name and you can’t judge an ideology by it’s name either I guess.

Alternative for Germany was formed to support German exit from the Euro and oppose bailouts. Despite this isn’t against the EU in general.

Political language is complicated. I’d love to call myself a “progressive” it didn’t already mean “commie nutcase” instead of “one who is for progress”, I’m for progress.


9 posted on 04/22/2013 5:55:18 AM PDT by Impy (All in favor of Harry Reid meeting Mr. Mayhem?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson