Support NeoGAF

[Carpe Libertatem]

What's your issue with the Linke? You aren't a fan of their anticapitalism?

Substantial ties to Russia. No real plan for once they're in government. And what they have is not realistic. They're a left wing version of AfD.

There's a reason no one has made a coalition with them (on a national level, they have power regionally in the former East Germany) despite opportunities to do so.

 

[Xater]

I would never vote Green as long as the other parties care somewhat about the environment, which they do. They are awful about basically any other issue, weirdly especially social issues. It feels like the whole party is completely detached from poor people and their struggle.
I would like to see a better and stronger SPD, maybe it's a first step.

Well they have felt relevant to me before, but that gas been like a decade ago. Right now I also not as interested in them.

 

[whyamihere]

Let's hope the Netherlands follows next month. Wilders is already dropping the polls.

It's actually funny to watch his polls drop riiiiight at early November. I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED?!

But really, Trump (and Brexit) may end up being a really good the European left and stoping the rise of far-right nationalism.

 

[Fisty]

Huh, pretty ironic that I might be rooting for Germany in WWIII

 

[Fennec]

France seems to go back to the right though. How are the chances of Le Pen winning lately?

Close to none.

 

[Micael]

I expect we will see this more as the UK enters their negotiations, which if they continue with the stupid hard brexit will be the political equivalent of german porn.

I know the US waited a few years to help out in WWII but could you guys learn from history and jump in earlier if our government starts rounding up people? Thanks!

I'm not sure we have enough Japanese people in Europe to build our camps, that being said both sides now have more experience building them, so at least that part would go smoother this time around, although not quite sure how the donald would feel about having fences instead of walls.

 

[parrotbeak]

I'm not sure we have enough Japanese people in Europe to build our camps, that being said both sides now have more experience building them, so at least that part would go smoother this time around, although not quite sure how the donald would feel about having fences instead of walls.

You should have enough Americans on your side to put in camps.

 

[Jasup]

Hell no. At least, not that I know of. If I had to pay dues to be part of the party and then they harassed me non stop for money on top of it I would tell them to get bent.

That's a huge part of how parties finance themselves. The other part is public funds dependent on votes and party donations. Which are tiny compared to the US. That's probably why.

It has to be said that parties work differently in the US and in Europe. The rough outline of how the different types of parties work was described by Maurice Duverger. Tere are two types of parties: elite-based and mass-based

Elite-based parties rather prefer the quality of their members over their quantity, their affiliates being people of great influence on local or national scale. They have flexible and disorganized structures, in general are weakly disciplined and lack developed pragmatic content, allowing each of their members to benefit from an enormous freedom of action. Their funding is generally provided by a sponsor, and as their strength comes from their elected representatives, they are typical parties of parliamentarian creation, which depend on the reputation and support of their benefactors.

Mass-based parties possess a secure organization and a strong structure arranged as a pyramid, with superposed hierarchically-arranged levels. Their members identify themselves more with the party's ideology than with its leader, so they have an abstract adhesion. Their decisions are based on the participation of each one of its members, and its founding is granted by their members' payments, a situation that leads them to gain as many adherents as possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Duverger#Political_parties

The parties in the US are elite-based while in Europe parties are mass-based.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Do we know how Schulz would reorganize the coalition when/if SPD are elected?

fwiw one of my polisci professors who moved here from Germany said he thought with the SPD polling boost that a red/red/green coalition was a possibility if the SPD picks up enough seats and the CDU loses enough.

 

[GoldenCrow]

I have no idea what you are trying to say, the article doesn't mention fascists either.
What's going on in Europe right now is basically a vote between nationalism/isolation/anti-EU/anti-€ and federalism/cooperation/solidarity/pro-EU. It's not some "right-wing equals fascism" theory. We know what will happen if Europe moves to the right, because it is happening right now in certain countries. It's not fearmongering, it's observation.

What are you talking about, no one sensible is doing that in germany. Nobody calls right-leaning CDU/CSU "synonymous with fascists". The Center-left isn't winning ground because everyone suddenly started despising and hating Merkel and her party, but because some see it as a valid alternative with Martin Schulz at the helm. This is a very american problem since over there they entrenched themselves with two parties, one having to stand for the "left", the other for the "right", with no middleground or chance to compromise in between.

Sorry I should have been more succinct and relevant but didn't have the time, what I wrote was based on an observation on media story trends which the article brought forth and in post it does look like pointless shit. Nothing negative about Germany in the slightest as I don't know enough about their politics to comment. More musings than trying to make a point. In the article you see a pattern of certain ideals reflected in the left leaning parties as highlighted by the primary quote they run with i.e. we believe X,Y,Z. Therefore the opposition are in conflict with that, thus the harbingers of those ideals. When I take the time to read the full speeches you often see this isn't the case they are often being very specific but in the case of many journalists (or more like editor in a lot of circumstances) they are often pushing the bias of their paper and being far more generalist. I'm not left or right wing, pretty much as central as you can get but very liberal and have no political party I associate with just for bias reference.

 

[petran79]

This thread is a sobering reminder that I don't know shit about European politics since I thought Merkel was left.

Merkel is a good soul. Schauble is the asshole

 

[Frankfurter]

fwiw one of my polisci professors who moved here from Germany said he thought with the SPD polling boost that a red/red/green coalition was a possibility if the SPD picks up enough seats and the CDU loses enough.

Red/Red/Green might be possible in terms of the seats in the parliament, but it remains to be seen if it's politically feasible. Overall, I wouldn't opposed to the Linke as a means to get more equality, but their ties to Russia and some things that they said about refugees are terrible imo. It's too bad Gysi isn't their no. 1 anymore.

 

[yanipheonu]

The Left Lash is coming.

I could see the second coming of Vietnam level protests,if nothing else. I'm okay with smoking pot and going to concerts for protests.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

A shame. I really like Merkel.