Pirate Party Chatter

 Back in 2005...mostly out of Sweden, there was this political movement going on which was loosely attached to the IT age, copyright issues, and data protection.  It was mostly a group of college students who felt that the traditional parties were failing in this area.  

So the creation was the 'Pirate Party' (January 2006) in Stockholm.  Nine months later, they arrived in Germany.  Same trend....same topics.

By 2011/2012, the Pirate Party of Germany had done well....they had representatives in four different state assemblies in Germany. 

What you can also say is that by 2012....the German Pirate Party had hit some peak in terms of enthusiasm and agenda attention.  Chief reason?  A normal political party has thirty to forty agenda items which helps to sell across the spectrum.  These guys were mostly consumed with computer or media topics, and that was it. 

Lets turn now to the Czech Pirate Party.  They organized and formed up in the summer of 2009.  In eight years, they became the 3rd biggest political party in Czech.  They have five members in the 81-member Czech Senate.  Three years ago, one of their guys became the mayor of Prague.  

What led to their success?  I would suggest four key things:

1.  They built a platform of forty-odd topics....going way past copyright or media concerns.  They talk a lot about civil liberties, complete transparency in government, anti-corruption, and accountability.  

They talk about helping out small and medium-sized businesses (wanting open competition).  Consumer protection?  Harped on daily.  

Farm programs are pursued, along with environmental concerns.  

2.  They aren't really that much of a leftist group...with the commerce theme, you'd likely call them a centralist political group.  

3.  Their audience?  It goes from college students...over to business owners...and includes farmers. 

4.  Finally, this party chief (since 2016)....Ivan Bartos.  

Bartos is a software guy who got into the party chatter back in 2009 (since day one almost).  

Now at the age of 41, he's extremely close to becoming head of the government.

Competency?  He's what I'd describe as a Elon Musk-JFK-Steve Jobs all rolled-up into one.  He's the guy who said you need more than a marginal platform to attract voters.  He's the one who pushed on having a business and commerce agenda....which promote success and jobs. 

If the German Pirate Party had a Ivan Bartos, they'd probably trim down the size of the CDU, the SPD and Green Party to half of what they are today.  

So, 8/9 October of this year....is the national election.  The odds are heavily favored for the Pirate Party to get to the number two position (more than 15-percent of the vote).  The ANO folks holding at 30-percent (their 2017 results)?  I kinda doubt it, and it might be a fairly close election.  

It might be worth watching as the election occurs.