The Pirates of Berlin

Prior to the Berlin elections the predictive articles in the German press were all about the traditional parties and which of them would increase and which would decrease in popularity and legislative influence Much of the coverage related to the parties39 relative positions on the Euro crisis and whether the elections would be a mandate on Chancellor Merkel39s position on that critical issue It was expected that the evermoremainline Green Party amp8211 which had been an outsider when compared with the Free Democrats the Christian Democrats and the other traditional parties amp8211 would increase its influence and legislative powerWell surprise An upstart party called the Pirate Party polled 89 percent of the votes overnight becoming a new force on the political landscape Compare that with less than 2 percent of the vote for the Free Democrats Merkel39s coalition partner which because its total was well below the 5 percent needed to remain in the statehouse is no longer thereIn the postelection press conference the winning legislators of the Pirate Party amp8211 all in their 20s and 30s amp8211 showed up in hooded sweatshirts with one even wearing a Captain America Tshirt When the Pirate Party was challenged as possibly being a joke several academic pundits pushed back saying that the upstart group was truly filling a void for voters who were outside the mainstream obviously young and had felt underrepresented by the gray conformity of the traditional parties As millennial members of the Pirate Party stated even the Green Party has gone mainstream Any analogy there with American millennials and ObamaThe Pirate Party ran on issues like online privacy data protection complete transparency in politics and a promise to use online tools to give party members unprecedented power to propose policies in what they have called quotliquid democracyquot amp8211 a participation that is ongoing and of a deeper engagement than simply voting in elections Andreas Baum the party39s lead candidate in the election went further and defined transparency as quotalso being able to admit when we don39t know somethingquot Wow That39s a concept that is completely foreign to the current landscape of career politicians who are leading their respective countries down a careening path to nowhere with mild panic and uncertaintyWith the US moving toward the 2012 electoral freeforall the Pirate Party is not only a breath of fresh air but hopefully a wind of change starting to blow across the electoral landscape of the democratic world The Democrats and the Republicans can39t work together can39t come up with new ideas and are therefore bashing each other with the old tired language that continues to represent the legacy thinking of the last century Perhaps it is time for the young people of the US to look closely at the Pirate Party of Berlin and craft an American version that could start to loosen up the deadening language direction and ineptitude of the political party duopoly in the countryIn the 21st century the Gilbert and Sullivan soundtrack to The Pirates of Penzance will give way to the Pirate Party39s soundtrack of Metallica and EminemDavid Houle is a futurist strategist and speaker He has always been slightly ahead of the curve Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment Most recently David is a featured contributor to Oprahcom Check is out here wwwoprahcomdavidhoule David can be contacted at DavidDavidHoulecomRead all Davidamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Evolution ShiftCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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The Pirates of Berlin

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David Houle

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