Political differences: German exchange student recounts trip to state Capitol

RICHWOOD HIGH SCHOOL/Courtesy photo

Richwood High School students pause for a photo in the state Capitol during Know Your State Government Day. They are (front, from left) Katy Bragg and Emily Brugnoli; (back) Justin O’Dell, Marissa Johnson, Ashley Clemens, Andy Isabell, John Brugnoli, Bradley Morris and the author, Paulina Voigt, a German exchange student.

Paulina Voigt is a foreign exchange student from Berlin, Germany, who is living with a host family in Craigsville.

By Paulina Voigt
Richwood High School

Total silence. I’m standing in this amazing building, looking around, and the only thing I can think about is getting my camera out and and pictures like one of those annoying tourists.

On Feb. 12, nine Richwood High School students, including me, and two teachers visited the Capitol building for Government Day. As an exchange student, it felt very special for me to stand in one of the most important buildings in West Virginia.

We looked into the rooms of the Supreme Court and other important government branches. Then, we went to the cafeteria for a little snack. The historical library was the next stop, and we got the chance to listen to Gov. Joe Manchin and people from the legislative branch like the speaker of the House and the head of the Supreme Court.

Gov. Manchin spoke to about 200 students, talking about unemployment, West Virginia’s role in the global market, statistics (being one of the worst and one of the best states in America) and how to make all these things even better or more effective.

After that, the speaker of the House and the president of state Senate talked about the tasks of the legislative branch — like paying the bills, making new laws, taxes and education. They also said that the legislative branch is only able to spend as much money as the governor allows them.

All of this was very informative, but I was a little disappointed because I thought that we would have a personal talk with the governor and the people of the legislative branch like my teacher had told me we would.

But it was interesting to see how the government works in West Virginia. In Germany, we have a kind of president, called the chancellor, and a second head, called the bundespresident, who doesn’t have as much power as the chancellor. These two get elected from the members of different parties in the Bundestag.

The Bundestag is a house where all the elected parties have seats. The more votes a party gets, the more seats it has in the Bundestag. These parties make all the important decisions and also elect the chancellor and the bundespresident.

Unlike America, there are not just two or three parties in Germany but many different ones. Similar to the U.S.A., there are two main parties that normally get most of the votes. Like in America, they are the Democrats (CDU) and the Republicans (SPD).

Normally these parties compete with each other and one of them, combined with one of the smaller parties, gets enough votes to build the government of Germany. But the last time Germany elected the Bundestag, neither of the parties got enough votes to have the majority, even when combined with two or three little parties. So after long talks and meetings, they all came to the decision that the two big parties had to work together, build the government together and share every minister position.

Ministers are the people responsible for a part of the government. For example, there is a minister for environment, a health minister, a minister for spending money, etc. It was these positions, and of course who would be chancellor, that CDU and SPD were fighting over.

Finally they got it all worked out. Our chancellor is Democratic and female, and her name is Angela Merkel. Our bundespresident is also Democratic, and his name is Horst Koehler.

Like in the U.S., we have different states in Germany — 16 to be exact. Berlin, where I come from, is a little state and a city at the same time, called a city-state. There are three city-states in Germany: Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. Of course, Berlin is the capital, too, so you can compare it with Washington, D.C.

Every city-state has a governor, called buergermeister. He represents the city-state, so he is at every important meeting, festival or representative event. The buergermeister also has speeches in front of politicians and sometimes even in front of students.

All together, the trip to Charleston was really nice, and although it wasn’t like I expected it, it was very informative. I learned a lot more on this day about West Virginia’s Legislature than I had ever learned in school. I enjoyed getting the information about how the legislative system works, and I’m happy that I had the chance to be a part of this wonderful experience!