Saturday, November 19, 2016

Politik ist Scheisse Party (Politics is S**t Party)

I often point out that there are typically forty-odd political parties in existence in an average election....of which several are just a joke.

In the early 1980s of West Germany.....there came this party referred to as "the Anarchistic Pogo Party of Germany".  In short, APPD, or referred to in German as Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschland.

The insider reference to the party was "mob" or "social parasites".  As history tells the story....this was an idea by two local punks from the Hannover area in 1981.  Few talk about this moment, but I would imagine they were sitting in some living room....consuming a lot of beer (as most German guys do), and just said why the hell don't we create a political party.

The party existed in an area without the internet, which is the odd thing.  They got the word out via local bars, pubs, and music halls.  I think in today's atmosphere, with social media.....they might have shocked the public in Hannover with 5-percent of the vote.

By 1998, they gone to the next level....promising free beer.

The "Pogo" name for the party?  This came out of a dance which was 'hot' at the time but mostly related to punk-music.
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What they eventually got around to suggesting as a platform?  They suggested a full right to unemployment....with full salary.  They also suggested an end to compulsory education (never saying what would replace it).  There was also a platform for local or regional centers for physical love.....basically a state-run orgy center.  Naturally, legalization of drugs (any and all drugs) was on the list as well.

At some point, the idea of balkanization came up....where they wanted the borders redrawn to what existed in 1237 (before the Nazis, before WW II or I, and before the Kaiser).

Some were surprised in 1997 Hamburg city elections.....when they took a shocking 5.3-percent in the vote.  All without social media.

Closely associated with drugs and booze?  Yeah, without any doubt.

Pogo in today's environment?  If you found the right band, with the right tune that closely bonds with the party's attitude and has a decent beat.....you'd build the foundation of the Pogo movement in 2017. Toss in some smart guys who do the IT business....build up their own page....run a Facebook and Twitter profile, and look for strictly teens and guys in their early 20's who are just angry at the system and Berlin leadership.

You could probably talk the Putin guys into sponsoring part of this and help form nifty slogans.  Toss in some concerts around Germany.  And by September, they might actually get 500,000 votes....mostly from the 18-to-25 age group and mostly from people who would have voted for the SPD or CDU.  They wouldn't enter the Bundestag but they'd be noticed just about every evening in the news.

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