{"id":234,"date":"2019-02-18T20:38:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/?p=234"},"modified":"2019-03-18T23:14:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T23:14:19","slug":"week-1-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/02\/18\/week-1-response\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brighter Future Built Upon the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

I truly enjoyed Professor Yoder\u2019s lecture on Chancellor Angela Merkel and her political style in comparison to her predecessors. It was fascinating to note all of the significant differences between Germany\u2019s political discourse and ours here in the United States. For starters, I loved that Germany refers to their political leader as \u2018Chancellor\u2019; it immediately jogged my memory and made me think of <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> and a main character, Chancellor Palpatine. Most countries defer to the usual \u2018President\u2019 or \u2018Prime Minister\u2019 title, yet Germany maintains a unique identity by sticking to \u2018Chancellor\u2019. Another difference is that the Chancellor can serve for an unlimited terms. I did not realize that Merkel has been serving in office since early 2005; she recently announced that this could be her last term in office, yet many believe, and hope, that she will run for reelection at least one more time. It is interesting to note this method of federal politics in relation to our own; in our most recent election, millions of Americans would have prefered that President Obama run for a third term. However, given our limitations on executive power, no man or woman can run more than twice. Consequently, we were left with two less than optimal choices, and Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States. I now know that this would never happen in Germany. Professor Yoder expressed during the question and answer session how Chancellor Merkel thought that she would only serve three terms; however, she re-entered herself because of the threat of right wing populism, as well as the rise of Donald Trump in the East. And so, the Chancellor ensured that the political future of Germany did not rest in the hands of anyone but her own. She has the freedom and ability to do so, which is a glorious example of Germany\u2019s political discourse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another portion of the lecture that captured my mind was Professor Yoder\u2019s analysis of Chancellor Merkel\u2019s public speeches. Professor Yoder began by highlighting the fact that since 2005, 67% of Chancellor Merkel\u2019s public speeches contained\/referenced moments from Germany\u2019s past. Thirty-nine out of fifty-eight speeches invoked memories of the German past with 22 mentions of World War II and the Holocaust, and 21 references to the Berlin Wall and its\u2019 unification. When it comes to Germany\u2019s controversial past, Professor Yoder emphasized that Chancellor Merkel addresses it with a \u201cnever forget\u201d mentality. Many of her speeches invoke emotion and prioritized moving on to a bigger and brighter future. That said, she constantly reminded the public of Germany\u2019s past, and reiterated how important it is to always remember. Initially, I found this very bizarre and somewhat irresponsible. This was something that I would not expect; it was my inclination that leaders of Germany would want this history to disappear and never be heard of again. World War II brings about memories of destruction and levels of oppression that have yet to be surpassed. Logically, I felt that Germans would be embarrassed by their ancestors and their choices; I felt like Germans would stop at nothing to dispel this stain from its\u2019 cherished history. Yet, because of Chancellor Merkel\u2019s governance, Germany has been able to make tremendous strides. She has invoked a \u2018welcoming culture\u2019 and ensures that Germany maintains its\u2019 responsibility as a powerful nation in Europe\u2019s community. Overall, I was fascinated with Professor Yoder\u2019s talk on Chancellor Merkel. I truly knew close to nothing in terms of Germany\u2019s political discourse, let alone Chancellor Merkel\u2019s. I was able to take away a great deal and am looking forward to all of the lectures to come.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I truly enjoyed Professor Yoder\u2019s lecture on Chancellor Angela Merkel and her political style in comparison to her predecessors. It was fascinating to note all of the significant differences between Germany\u2019s political discourse and ours here in the United States. For starters, I loved that Germany refers to their political leader as \u2018Chancellor\u2019; it immediately … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Brighter Future Built Upon the Past”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8898,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440364],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}