But – unless I’m off key – *you* are a libertarian. So, why support them and not the Pirates? As far as I understand, the FDP is a bland run-of-the-mill European liberal party, am I mistaken here? [If I lived in Europe, I would probably have no idea whom to vote for, but at least TPP have pro-privacy stances and oppose online censorships, which is great in my mind].
You’d be surprised what people overlook, but evidently in your case your vision was 20/20.
I suspect it’s a matter of what you consider the reason for voting. If it’s to register a preference, you might vote one way. If it’s to affect policy and swing it more in your direction, you might vote another. I tend to favor the latter and I’m also not quite clear just what the Pirate Party stands for, in any case. I do know that the FDP generally (and specifically) favors less taxation, less state control, more personal freedom, respect for civil liberties, less involvement in foreign military adventures, toleration, etc. Not as far as I would want to go in most areas, I’m sure, but overall going in the right direction. That works for me.
Well, I think you cannot say it like that. The FDP was in the opposition for 2 governments and thus can dare to make bold statements. Maybe you should however look into the Länder and see their track record there, which is everything but gloriously liberal. To me, the fact that the FDP in Bavaria where they form a coalition with the CSU supported and voted for laws which violate the ideals of freedom in an FSK18 way (Online-Durchsuchung is the best example) and that their track record in NRW is as bad (with the CDU as coalition partner) that I cannot imagining voting for them within the next 16 Bundestags-elections. They are just too eager to throw their ideals overboard for a place in a coalition with whoever is willing.
A party that’s been around for several decades has more than just ideology – they also have a record to stand on, and from what I know – which essentially ‘what I am told by German-speakers’ – their record doesn’t seem to shine that much.
This is an ad for the election campaign, not a manifesto. The FDP leaders believe, on the basis of the polls, that they have the possibility of major gains. One of the obstacles is the unwillingness of many Germans to depart from their traditional support for the conservatives or the social democrats. This ad is intended to overcome that hesitancy by comparing it to “the first time” for love and for making a decision for oneself. So it’s not a manifesto, but an attempt to convince wavering voters that doing something — voting FDP — for the first time is a good thing.
Ich dachte die Werbung gar nicht so schlecht war. Ich hoffe, dass sie ein gutes Ergebnis haben — jedenfalls scheint FDP viel besser als die Alternativen.
You could take the a href=”http://www.wahl-o-mat.de/bundestagswahl2009/main_app.php?sprache=1&wombundestagswahl2009=09c0a11519877d3dee8fdd1dd36908ba&servername=server1″>Wahl-O-Mat quiz and see which party is closest to your view. I linked to the English language version.
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Für Freiheit!
Aren’t the FDP rather moderate to be called libertarians?
[my fiancee is a political candidate with the Piraten, so...]
Could be, depending on how you use the terms “liberal” and “libertarian.” I wrote “Vote Liberal in the German Elections.”
I’m not illiterate.
But – unless I’m off key – *you* are a libertarian. So, why support them and not the Pirates? As far as I understand, the FDP is a bland run-of-the-mill European liberal party, am I mistaken here? [If I lived in Europe, I would probably have no idea whom to vote for, but at least TPP have pro-privacy stances and oppose online censorships, which is great in my mind].
You’d be surprised what people overlook, but evidently in your case your vision was 20/20.
I suspect it’s a matter of what you consider the reason for voting. If it’s to register a preference, you might vote one way. If it’s to affect policy and swing it more in your direction, you might vote another. I tend to favor the latter and I’m also not quite clear just what the Pirate Party stands for, in any case. I do know that the FDP generally (and specifically) favors less taxation, less state control, more personal freedom, respect for civil liberties, less involvement in foreign military adventures, toleration, etc. Not as far as I would want to go in most areas, I’m sure, but overall going in the right direction. That works for me.
Well, I think you cannot say it like that. The FDP was in the opposition for 2 governments and thus can dare to make bold statements. Maybe you should however look into the Länder and see their track record there, which is everything but gloriously liberal. To me, the fact that the FDP in Bavaria where they form a coalition with the CSU supported and voted for laws which violate the ideals of freedom in an FSK18 way (Online-Durchsuchung is the best example) and that their track record in NRW is as bad (with the CDU as coalition partner) that I cannot imagining voting for them within the next 16 Bundestags-elections. They are just too eager to throw their ideals overboard for a place in a coalition with whoever is willing.
of course the FDP are the classical liberals…but what about a message in their videoclip ? This surely won’t do the trick.
A party that’s been around for several decades has more than just ideology – they also have a record to stand on, and from what I know – which essentially ‘what I am told by German-speakers’ – their record doesn’t seem to shine that much.
This is an ad for the election campaign, not a manifesto. The FDP leaders believe, on the basis of the polls, that they have the possibility of major gains. One of the obstacles is the unwillingness of many Germans to depart from their traditional support for the conservatives or the social democrats. This ad is intended to overcome that hesitancy by comparing it to “the first time” for love and for making a decision for oneself. So it’s not a manifesto, but an attempt to convince wavering voters that doing something — voting FDP — for the first time is a good thing.
Ich dachte die Werbung gar nicht so schlecht war. Ich hoffe, dass sie ein gutes Ergebnis haben — jedenfalls scheint FDP viel besser als die Alternativen.
You could take the a href=”http://www.wahl-o-mat.de/bundestagswahl2009/main_app.php?sprache=1&wombundestagswahl2009=09c0a11519877d3dee8fdd1dd36908ba&servername=server1″>Wahl-O-Mat quiz and see which party is closest to your view. I linked to the English language version.