Vote Story

A lot of Germans will say this is an election over six political parties, but in truth....there are at least thirty parties in the running.  I ran through a ARD listing, and found four kind of interesting oddball groups:

1.  The Hip Hop Party:   It was formed up about seven months ago, centers mostly in Berlin.  What's said about their platform?  They believe Hip-Hop is a culture and international movement.  They also think that Hip-Hop can transtion through all problems (food, commerce, etc). This is a party that also believes that there is no dividing line between cities and countries.  Social justice for all.....no ID of gender....everyone is the same.  I should note.....they were only able to make it on the national ballot for Berlin.....no one else in Germany will be able to vote for them.

2. The Bavaria Party.  Course, you can only vote for this party if you live in Bavaria.  Their main theme is to separate Bavaria out from Germany.  Interesting enough....they want to dump the smoking ban within buildings (German national law).  Direct-democracy?  Yes, absolutely.  They want to dump the Solidarity Tax.  And they want to ensure regional dialects are taught in the school system.....no more clean-German accents.

3. The Magdeburger Garden Party.  They also get mentioned as "Dark Green".  They've been around for four years and you can only vote for them in Saxony-Anhalt.  They are against construction plans for small garden plots.  They want Hartz IV welfare to be dissolved.  They also call for a reduction in the retirement age....down to 65.  One-Euro jobs?  Out.  Mostly a joke, if you ask me.

4. The Mountain Party.  They insist it's not a parody.  They want to be viewed as the most far left of left party in existence.  They insist on the goal of melting away a car for each tree cut down (yes, you can imagine that going well in Germany).  You can only vote for the party in the state area of Berlin (the land without mountains).  They insist upon getting rid of capitalism, and creating a free society.  They also insist that the German military needs to go away.....being dumped completely.

The thing is....nationally....each of the four parties I mentioned might actually get two or three thousand votes.  In some ways, it's a sign that the nation has a number of people who just don't believe in democracy being worth all this effort.  What happens if the Mountain Party were to get 12-percent of the vote?  Total shock.....but the fact that you can only vote for them if you live in Berlin....means it's a small group of folks who have the chance to vote this way.