privacy, party systems, and the definition of family -- a class discussion on u.s. and german election styles (part II)

part of the leipzig students' program was a joint class session with u.s. students in the television coverage class of professor mary rogus and election campaign strategies class by professor michelle honald. three hours flew by like nothing as both sides were curiously probing into the other sides believes, party systems, privacy during election, and the definition of family candidates are candidates.

u.s. journalism and public relations students discuss with mephistos in class. what baffles the germans (why do only democrates canvass for registration?) is easily answered by the ohio university students (republicans have a hard life in athens city and hardly any votes to gain, why bother registering voters then.)

idols v issues
one of the starkest contrasts is the treatment of candidates as both sides quickly noticed. german election coverage is about candidates. in the usa the candidates are already treated as idols for example obama appearing on the cover of rolling stone magazine. in germany they candidates stay candidates until they get into power.

issues also might play more of a role as there are more than just two parties vying for votes: germany’s party landscape features two bigger parties the rather conservative cdu (christian democratic union), spd (socialdemocratic party of germany, not communistic or too left as they scramble for the center’s vote), the green party, and the liberal fdp (free democratic party), and the left party. germany is currently governend by what is dubbed the great coalation because spd and cdu share power. could you imagine republicans and democrats sharing the white house -- an obama/palin or mccain/biden distribution? in germany the political colors are reshuffled with every election and combinations like the jamaica colation (green-yellow/liberal-red/spd) or green/red are a likelihood.

political color games
u.s. elections are a black or white or rather red or blue decision without much other color playing a role. during my watch of nbc news online since the beginning of september not a single time have any third party candidates been mentioned. people see names like bob carr (libertarian), cynthia mckinney (green), and chuck baldwin (constitution party) on the ballot probably for the first time.

of course the class also brought to light the difference in voting modality: u.s. history based two step bureaucracy of registering and voting during week days contrasted with germany's simple and elegant show up on election sunday, show your id, and vote approach. plus, there are no primaries in germany as the parties alone pick the candidates rather than citizens huddled in gym for a whole evening or standing in line. lines are pretty uncommon in germany, too. it's a matter of minutes to vote.

privacy please
germans do discuss issues with friends and families but they don’t say who they are going to vote for. it’s secret, even within families for example a father wouldn’t tell his children. Germans have no yard signs, buttons or stickers to show who they support. and we barely receive letters or phone calls during an election campaign from the parties. and they certainly don’t put up little tables with free pizza to entice voters to stop. there’s more respect for privacy, we have polls but they are anonymous.

germans don’t share their choice when voting they also want the privacy of politicians and candidates to be respected. germans don’t necessarily want to know the spouse, children, and parents of the candidates. if a german candidate would appear on a magazine cover it would almost discredit him as a whatever-(s)he-wants-to-be. it’s just not appropriate. up until now it’s accepted that german chancellor angela merkel’s husband joachim sauer, who holds a phd in chemistry, doesn’t give interviews and very seldom appears in public at her side. the obamas and the mccains and palins could be seen on people magazine and other house keeping journals complete with distant relatives.

how strange the germans thought.
how strange you would NOT want to see them, now about them, read about them the u.s. students replied.

(don’t) show me your family
it boils down to culture: u.s. students said that family portrays the candidate as having the right values, as being able to run a family, to connect with john and jane doe because they have a mother, daughter, and brother, too. what does family have to do with knowledge, political skills, and expertise asked the germans. we rather keep the private separate from politics. i couldn’t help but add that i think the puritan roots and religion play a role in the picture of family in the usa which is usually defined as an intact core family.

the other germans agreed saying that with the many patchwork families in germany the definition of family has shifted, alternative models including homosexuals, single households are more acceptable. so who cares about the family of a candidate. in the usa it seems unlikely that a lesbian single mom could become president. and then another german girl said that germans de-emotionalization when it comes to scrutinize candidates for public office might trace back to a lesson learnt after world war II, a war in which propaganda appealing to emotions played a big role.

as one of the german students said: a great discussion sped through a three hour single session faster than sometimes an only 1 ½ hour class shuffles by.