What's the Difference Between German and American Political Parties?

First, off the bat....let's lay out the German card that multiple parties exist.  Yes, roughly seven parties probably make up 90-percent of the general public political interest, but but another thirty-to-forty parties exist to be fringe parties, and gather votes in city, state and national elections.

So, let's go to my five observations on the differences:

1.  Membership matters.  In your local village, the major parties will have a 'unit' and there's a meeting roughly every month where you gather your members at some pub or city meeting point....talk over the agenda....pay your membership fee, and feel positive over the direction of the party.

So in a town of 2,000 residents (figure 400 are under 18 years old).....you can imagine that 20 to 60 folks are probably full-up SPD Party members.  In a city like Wiesbaden, the Green Party membership might add up to around 500 members (285,000 residents).

2.  Members vote.  You can only have a say in the party politics, and establish agendas....if you are a member.  Remember....part of the this meeting business is to vote for an agenda that will go before the national Party membership.  If those 75,000 Green Party members say such-and-such issue is a number one problem situation....then it doesn't matter if the top three members of the Green Party are negative about this idea.....the idea goes forward because of the national vote within the party.

3.  You can't appear out of thin air.  You've been the CEO of some business for a decade and gotten lots of attention via interviews, and suddenly you want to announce your candidacy for Premier-President of the Saarland (the governor of Saarbrucken)?  No, it's not going to happen.

You need to be part of a party apparatus and been progressing up through the local, regional, state, and national levels.  All of the people that you see within the seven parties.....are mostly people who've been in politics for a minimum of a decade....some going on thirty years.

4.  No one survives scandal.  You can look over the past fifty years, and find that virtually every single German political figure who has a scandal to develop.....falls from grace.  This is one of the reasons why Germans view Trump, insist up on multiples of scandal, and stand there shocked that the scandal doesn't take him down.  Parties will walk into the midst of a scandal and literally fire you from the party.....to cleanse the situation and ensure public trust.

5.  These quarterly national meetings.  Virtually all of the German parties will have a quarterly meeting where the various topics are discussed.....big-stage speeches are given by the top ten members.....and PR is accomplished via public TV displays.  These occur over weekends.....starting usually on Friday evening, run through all of Saturday, and wrap up by mid-day on Sunday.  If you want to see the dynamics of politics in Germany.....you have to pay attention to what is said at these weekend episodes, and how people reacted.