It's interesting how differently Germans and Americans talk about their governments...
In the U.S., everybody bitches about the current administration, if they didn't vote for it themselves. In Germany (where we have a coalition government), if the parties you didn't vote for won, then you shrug it off and say "who gives a shit - next election's in four years".
I guess that's why American politics is so much more interesting - you basically have two big parties, each of which is somewhat extreme in one way or another. And in Germany... It doesn't really make a difference, they're all equally boring. :D But really, a liberal Democrat would be considered a conservative over here.
you basically have two big parties, each of which is somewhat extreme in one way or another.
And it's interesting, because I see all the time people saying that the two main parties are effectively no different from each other (usually the libertarians/third party folks). And I think in terms of corruption and forgetting where they came for as soon as they're gone, that might be true. But in other ways...
I think in the US, politics for a lot of people is a spectator sport... people argue for/against politicians and parties the same as they do for sports teams.
And it's interesting, because I see all the time people saying that the two main parties are effectively no different from each other (usually the libertarians/third party folks).
*lol* That certainly is interesting. You have two main parties and the other ones are practically nonexistant. In Germany, there's two big parties (the conservative CDU and the social democratic SPD) - but one party can't form an administration by themselves. They could, but they'd need two thirds of all votes, which hasn't happened so far. So they either need the other big party or one of the smaller ones.
Usually it's on of these: the Green party, the left-wingers (Die Linke) or the Liberal party (the FDP), because the smaller party still has to get over 5% of all votes to even be considered for a coalition. And the usually formed coalitions are the CDU and the FDP (so the most conservative party and one of the most liberal parties) or the SPD (social democrats) and the Green party.
I think in the US, politics for a lot of people is a spectator sport... people argue for/against politicians and parties the same as they do for sports teams.
That might just be one the best explanations I've ever heard. It would explain a lot.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
In the U.S., everybody bitches about the current administration, if they didn't vote for it themselves. In Germany (where we have a coalition government), if the parties you didn't vote for won, then you shrug it off and say "who gives a shit - next election's in four years".
I guess that's why American politics is so much more interesting - you basically have two big parties, each of which is somewhat extreme in one way or another. And in Germany... It doesn't really make a difference, they're all equally boring. :D But really, a liberal Democrat would be considered a conservative over here.
no subject
And it's interesting, because I see all the time people saying that the two main parties are effectively no different from each other (usually the libertarians/third party folks). And I think in terms of corruption and forgetting where they came for as soon as they're gone, that might be true. But in other ways...
I think in the US, politics for a lot of people is a spectator sport... people argue for/against politicians and parties the same as they do for sports teams.
no subject
*lol* That certainly is interesting. You have two main parties and the other ones are practically nonexistant. In Germany, there's two big parties (the conservative CDU and the social democratic SPD) - but one party can't form an administration by themselves. They could, but they'd need two thirds of all votes, which hasn't happened so far. So they either need the other big party or one of the smaller ones.
Usually it's on of these: the Green party, the left-wingers (Die Linke) or the Liberal party (the FDP), because the smaller party still has to get over 5% of all votes to even be considered for a coalition. And the usually formed coalitions are the CDU and the FDP (so the most conservative party and one of the most liberal parties) or the SPD (social democrats) and the Green party.
I think in the US, politics for a lot of people is a spectator sport... people argue for/against politicians and parties the same as they do for sports teams.
That might just be one the best explanations I've ever heard. It would explain a lot.