Good article, but you fail to mention something important, Leo. Germany is a democracy while we are a duopoly. Said differently: their democracy is more inclusive than our democracy. A big difference that I will describe further.
All reasons you mention in your article are fantastic to read. Not because it says something about Germany, but it creates an open book about us. Business culture is far more mainstream in the US. The norm is business culture, and in a way that is abnormal. The dollar is placed in the middle, and not the people; they dance around the dollar. The political system explains why we are this different.
We enter the political center of decision making through a red door or through a blue door. In Germany they have as many colored doors as fingers on one hand. There is an orange door, a green door, a yellow door. All voters are represented better in Germany than voters in the US because all these colors can speak their minds and vote on issues. We only have red and blue.
Imagine red and blue needing to deal with a green issue or an orange need. Not a good outcome. They will either warp the policy so it is palatable to red and blue, or they will ignore it altogether. Where we have an ignorant aspect in our political culture, Germany is fully based on all its people, and businesses are just one aspect of all people. Again, businesses are central in the US, they are the essence. Here, businesses have more power.
As we know, having a full-color democracy did not hurt Germany in becoming a world economic power. The voters vote mostly for pro-business parties. Yet they have that choice. It is not the other way around where we have two parties not allowing real competition for the seats. We do not know what voters would pick if we had a full-color democracy. We live in a politically restricted society. Of course, red and blue both love it this way.
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If we want change, the good news is that the US Constitution demands the better system is put in place by governments. It actually demands it today. In effect, the Fed and State governments can get away with doing what they are doing because the US Constitution gives them additional powers, so that level is out of sight right now. But cities and counties did not receive additional powers and must abide. See the following:
The local level is the best level to find out why the Germans have a better political system than we have. It’s a safe place for change. We are going to love voting full-color at the local level.
Did you know that throughout the US at the local level we find mostly representatives of a single color occupying most seats? That should upset every single lover of democracy. Our democracy performs worst at the local level, yet we can hardly see it. Our thinking recognizes political red and blue only. The clever aspects of a shell game makes us unaware that we are had.
In The American Truth, one can read that we were had as soon as we walk into the voting booth. Our system does contain aspects of a shell game. The article also declares better why the US Constitution is on the side of the voters (that is, at the local level) and that we can demand change, today.
Lastly, here is an article that describes Germany taking over the US voting system after WW II, but modifying it in an important way so it would deliver more and better. It would be really easy for us to vote in the German system at our State level because we are already quite familiar with it. Also, the State constitutions are not as complicated to change as the US Constitution and this second step of change allows us to investigate full-color democracy well before tackling the US Constitution.
Three steps therefore:
- change voting at the local level, today
- change the way we vote for State representatives and senators, tomorrow
- have a good look at the US Constitution and see if we already like the first two changes or if we want more changes at the largest level as well, later.
We don’t need twenty little parties, and that is exactly what Germany created. They have an inclusive democracy with a limited number of parties, but not a severely restricted number of parties like we have here. Their parties compete for the votes, always; our two parties compete from a lazy chair (except in neck-and-neck races, then they go full out).
We would not become Germans, and WalMart may still be a giant (our infrastructure is another aspect that is different), but our culture would be freer and Wal-Mart could not do all these ‘funny’ things with their employees.
