Berlin Blog Question Five

What is the biggest difference between the German and American political systems? Which do you prefer and why?

I have written at least twice in my notebooks of how history dictates German politics, with good reason. While it may not be always fair to deal constantly with the "burden of history," the German government has done extremely well under their system. I am a firm believer in history repeats itself, whether it is through wars, genocides, or presidential elections. Everything that we are dealing with today is an echo back to another time and only variables and the time period changes. While globalization is on a supposedly new concept, the emergence of powerful states throughout Europe and Asia centuries ago can be a slight reflection of that, as they built alliances and trade routes that are still present. Germany, a "late state," is no longer playing catch-up and is a full-fledged global power, especially within the European Union. However, we cannot forget of how it came to be and, more importantly, how it acts today. Without the Allies' assistance and desire to rebuild West Germany after World War Two, Germany would not be in the position it is in currently.
I just typed "the Allies' assistance" not even two lines ago, but let's be blatantly honest: it was America. France was in shambles, because they were basically the first to fall; Great Britain had to rebuild extensively and pay attention to their own state. America, ignoring Pearl Harbor, had no real physical damage, had the strongest economy coming out of the war, and was now set up to be a massive world player, which would set up a bipolar world system throughout the next decades. Regardless, the point is America planned the German government, which is why theirs strongly resembles ours. The most fascinating difference between our two systems is the German voting and electoral process. Every election year, there is controversy and a mountain of complaints against our electoral college; perhaps from misunderstandings or a mistaken belief that we Americans have the most democratic democracy in the world. We vote and hope our person wins our state in order to reach a certain number. We slightly counteracted that in the German voting system. In Germany, they're given two ballots--one for a person and the other for a party with a closed party list. So, for instance, even if I really, truly support Ralph Nader, I know he won't win my state...ever. However, if I was in Germany, I could vote for someone with similar ideals to the Greens (SPD, the Left) for my land and then vote for the Green party in the Bundestag, while hoping the party gets over the five percent threshold. It's fairly straight forward and is a good hybrid system between America's and Britain's; taking the best of both worlds, the Germans have a "personalized proportional representation," which maintains an identifiable figure, as well as political party ideals.
I prefer the German system so much that I used it as a basis for my country of Caffeine's electoral system in an assignment, which is a lot, considering how much I love caffeine and assignments. As much as I act biligerent and say I'm rotting in hell, I'm of the mind-washed belief that a person's character is very important as a politician. Logically, I know that one person's tendency to not wash their hands in Congress really makes no difference whatsoever on running the country, but I want to know exactly who I am voting for; something that British people lack. However, in the American system, if I vote for the Democratic representative and only 49% of the people vote for him or her, our voices are completely silenced by that small margin that decided the outcome. That will never happen in Germany. If 49% vote for the SPD, within every level of government, there will be 49% SPD in every committee and board available.
I have been alive for four, going on five, American presidential elections. President Bill Clinton never won over fifty percent of the votes. The 2000 election will go down in infamy, although the electoral college was supposedly used properly. Finally, the 2004 election was tremendously close as well, with a difference of about three percentage points. Both President Clinton and President George W. Bush have had to deal with a split government, which is fairly common in Germany. The best part of the German system is how it is so directly proportionally represented. Believe it or not, I am a firm supporter of compromise, which is far less common in America than in Germany. Regardless of how left my beliefs are, I don't agree with that my views should be forced on the other three hundred million people, especially how about fifty percent of them probably have opposing views, which is my biggest issue with the British system. The American system is decent at compromise, but there are so many more ideals being compromised than issues. While the two main German parties, the SPD and CDU/CSU, are coming under fire about leaving platforms behind, I think that problem is far more prevalent in American politics. If you turn on CNN right now, there is an eighty percent chance they are talking about "flip-flopping." No issue is sacred in American politics, because they all can be sold out for a promise of votes; just ask public financing or offshore drilling.