Just a Munich girl living in the US :)
Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli) and I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but moved to Cincinnati, Ohio for an exchange semester in August 2016 while I was doing my undergrad at LMU Munich. After that, I kept coming back and as I was lucky enough to win the Green Card Lottery, I've been a Permanent Resident since August 2019!
In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States.
Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments! If you want to see more of me, you can follow my social media pages or support me on Patreon or ko-fi.com! And check out my brand new shop for authentic beer mugs, "Servus" t-shirts, German curse word stickers, and more ▸felifromgermany.com. :)
Mailing address:
Feli from Germany
PO Box 19521
Cincinnati, OH 45219
USA
Пікірлер
Australia is a federal parliament under a constitutional monarchy. King Charles III is only a figurehead and has no power in Australian every day matters.
As I'm sure others have mentioned, the President is not democratically elected. The President is elected by a 538 "electors". Furthermore, there is no requirement for the electors to be democratically chosen - it's merely a coincidence that currently they're elected democratically, but that wasn't always the case. In fact many states currently have laws on the books that would ignore their voters and appoint their electors to the popular vote winner, should enough other states pass the same law.
"engaged" also means "involved" in English. For example, "Johnny is very engaged in school activities" Perhaps Johnny plays sports for his school, or is involved in school clubs. Additionally, teachers want to "engage" students with their lessons.
Thank you Feli. Astounding that so many here need to be taught basic civics by someone from another country. It’s sad. But you do an excellent job explaining things, so thank you.
“For the Republic, for which it stands” - The US pledge of Allegiance
Anyone saying that the US isn't a democracy is being disingenuous and would rather that we be a dictatorship like North Korea.
Who doesn't love the totenkopf image?
“God created man, Samuel Colt made him equal.” It’s a part of our frontier, old west lifestyle. “An armed society is a polite society.” Why trash something you don’t understand?
intentional to make you consume more
It is too a democracy. Why do Americans never walk anywhere.safty is
Blame local government.
Right-wing propaganda. That’s it. Its extremist states rights nonsense.
The US is a: Federal Democratic Constitutional Republic Federal - States' rights where federal laws don't exist. Democratic - We vote. Period. Constitutional - We have a constitution. We're not special. Russia , and China also have them. It's just a written set of national laws. Republic - Representative government. The Right started the "We're a constitutional republic" nonsense to slowly subvert our democracy because the leaders of the GOP know their voters will repeat it. A "constitution" is just a set of national laws. Many other countries have a constitution. Countries that are: communist, autocratic, dictatorships, monarchies, etc. The Right uses "constitutional" to make it sound good to their low-info rank & file voters but a constitution doesn't mean it's good for its citizens. The "republic" part they use partly as "country" but also as representational gov't, they just don't ever say their ideology on who gets to represent them or how. They believe the representatives should be chosen by party leaders and states' governors, as they did with senators prior to 1913 and the 17th Amendment, and not the people. That's why they leave the "democratic"/'democracy" part off. When they do talk about democracy they bring up how we're not a "direct democracy", which we never have been except for state, county, and local referendums and certain positions. This shit threatening our democracy drive me crazy, so apologies if I seemed like I was mansplaining or something. That was not my intent. Thanks to all for your time.
Yeah this happens whenever people criticise the US democracy. Especially in election years. They very, very often say "Oh yeah, well the US was never meant to be a democracy. Its a republic" As if that explains everything and makes it all OK. But no... The US is a democracy. Just a very dysfunctional one. At the best of times.
The best way to describe the USA is a Federal Constitutional Republic with a Representative Democracy. The Federalist Papers are a great source for everyone to look into to understand at least Madison's, Hamilton's, and Jay's perspectives on what went right and what went wrong with the Grecian republics, what they were attempting to set up to address the people's grievances with their government without having periodic violent upheavals. Two things from No.10, attributed to Madison: "From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction..." Later: "A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking. Let us examine the points in which it varies from pure democracy, and we shall comprehend both the nature of the cure and the efficacy which it must derive from the Union." In a republic, we have to accept the fact that people have certain rights that can't be taken away from them, and that we don't always get to have it our way. In a pure democracy, which tend to become filled with corruption because of their very nature, someone can use any underhanded means necessary to assemble a 50.1% faction and dominate the other 49.9%. That system of government should be abhorrent to 100% of the citizenry and avoided at all costs. We are, unfortunately, heading in that direction.
The reason why you are getting that grief is that the question "Republic" verses "Democracy" has political identity undertones in America. Most conservatives in America will insist we ae a "Republic!" Only left-leaning liberals or progressives refer to America as a "Democracy." It is sometimes used as an IQ test of American history by some. Sometimes, you can avoid the grief by using the phrase: "Democratic-Republic," but even then the most far right will attack the phrase and reply, we are a "Constitutional-Republic." You won't solve it by giving your definitions because it involves identity politics.
Question ma'am: What do Germans think about the various laws between the states? Or they don't really think about it
Sorry, you got this wrong. Especially the last part. 1. You can have a democratic process within government without being a democracy. 2 out of 3 branches of the US government are not even subject to the will of the people. The Judicial. Which are appointed and appointed and confirmed within government. The Executive. Which is 3 times removed from the people in the voting process. The states elect the president. The people tell their State how to vote, but both State and US Constitutions can and have changed the outcome. The Legislative branch and state and local governments are as close to Representative democracy as it gets. However, even they're subject to the Constitution. We are not like Germany or anywhere else in Europe. We may appear to be, but the structure is considerably different. One other thing. The battle of Constitutional Republic vs Multi Cultural Democracy is one of the things that's tearing this country apart. I'm gen x and my parents are Boomers. My grandparents and us all knew the difference between democracy and Constitutional Republic by grade school. It was common knowledge. It's only been within the past 30 years that this fallacy the US is a democracy, which the founders loathed, has gained traction. Think what you wish. It's a free country. If we ever become a democracy,,then we'll cease to be free. We'll just end up another majority rule shit hole.
Ah great. Another foreigner who thinks they know everything about the USA. Say it with me. “i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the REBUPLIC for which it stands. Seriously, a simple google search could prevent your ignorance.
The main reason that whole "it's not a democracy" line became popular is, it's a way for unserious people to rattle serious critics of public policy. It works because serious people care about accuracy.
Its a constitutional republic with democratically elected representatives. And yes, this is taught in achool.
I've really only noticed pushback on the democracy thing from people who hate anything that comes close to sounding like "democrat."
4 out of 5 people enjoy a pure democracy.
You can bet the MAGA crowd is arguing we are not a democracy since that is what liar traitor Trump has told them. And they are trying their best to see that this time next year we will no longer be a democracy. Trump wants to be king for life.
North Korea is a democracy…. You see…. The majority can be coerced or fooled into voting away their bill of rights…… so you see, that’s why we are a constitutional republic….. our rights are given by a higher power… fin…..
"The working of the 'democratic' electoral system is of course as follows. A person is trained up stringently to certain opinions; then he is given a vote, called a 'free' and fully enfranchised person; then he votes (subject, of course, to new and stringent orders from the press, where occasionally his mentor commands him to vote contrary to what he has been taught) strictly in accordance with his training. His support for everything that he has been taught to support can be practically guaranteed. Hence, of course, the vote of the free citizen is a farce: education and suggestion, the imposition of the will of the ruler through the press and other publicity channels, cancelling it. So 'democratic' government is far more effective than subjugation by physical conquest." -Wyndham Lewis, The Art of Being Ruled
A true democracy is what ended up getting Socrates killed, so in the original sense, the USA is not a "pure" democracy. The USA is a "democratic republic," or a republic with a democratic process, where public representatives are elected by a majority vote, and the representatives pass laws by a majority vote, but have constitutional limitations and a separation of powers to limit what they can do.
Gas is so much faster in Germany...... .
"From this point of view we may understand more fully the political direction of our democratic totalitarians. The state, they say, when it is led by their leader...is the people. Democracy is the supremacy of the people. Therefore democracy is the supremacy of the state. Whenever the state absorbs another phase of social life, that is a victory for democracy. And therefore, more particularly : a serious critic of the state and its policies is a fifth columnist and a traitor" -James Burnham, The Machiavellians
"From this point of view we may understand more fully the political direction of our democratic totalitarians. The state, they say, when it is led by their leader...is the people. Democracy is the supremacy of the people. Therefore democracy is the supremacy of the state. Whenever the state absorbs another phase of social life, that is a victory for democracy. And therefore, more particularly : a serious critic of the state and its policies is a fifth columnist and a traitor" -James Burnham, The Machiavellians
That's not entirely true. Electors elect the president, and these electors are not mandated to vote the way the people in their districts vote. So, although the US has the appearance of a democracy, it actually isn't.
I get what you mean. More Americans voted for Clinton than Trump in 2016 but guess who got to overrule the say of the majority.... makes you question why we still implement the grossly outdated electoral college.
This guy is intentionally equating immigration and refugees with crime. This is based on the false and ( starts with R and rhymes with BASSIST) belief that people who come from “other places” commit more crimes than people who have “always” lived in a place (or in the US one generation). Totally false premise not supported by any actual data
In my experience, those insisting the U.S. is a republic are almost always conservatives and it's because they have a particular (political) ax to grind. I'm sure the strength of the pushback they give started from conservative media like radio or TV and it's become part of their ethos, perhaps passed through their family or friends as well (see: echo chamber). In conservative/Republican circles, they advocate for a weaker federal government and thus stronger state government or more personal freedoms. That particular tug of war of federal vs. state power is as old as the Constitution itself (and older than both parties and even the Constitution itself. See the Articles of Confederation, the first federal U.S. government.) Now, it's true the U.S. is not a "pure democracy" which is where the pro-republic crowd is correct. In a pure democracy, you have 1-1 voting. Even in representative democracies (which ours is and all other democratic countries are, I think), ours is still different because we have this unique state and federal government system and the Electoral College system. This has the quirk of making it so some people's votes carry more weight than others. The idea was to prevent largely populated states from having too much federal power and influence so the system skews some of that to smaller populated states deliberately. It's also why we have a bicameral Congress where the upper chamber's (Senate) members are granted equally to every state, and a lower chamber (House of Representatives), where it's apportioned based on relative population. The smaller populated states tend to be more rural, and more conservative, politically. And that's where you get "red states" and "blue state" from. The tl;dr of it is that the Republican party, because of demographics, tend to have more electoral voting power (at least at this point in time) than they otherwise would have if it was strictly 1-1 voting throughout the country. So by being a "Republic" instead of a "Democracy," it favors them and their constituents. So, to them, this is a good thing. You might also hear the argument of not having California (10% of the country's population and solidly controlled by the Democratic party) control everything and all the "bad" things that happen there they are opposed to (see: fear mongering). I guess another tl:dr is that rule by the masses (i.e. democracy) would make things worse in the country and for them because they'd lose more freedoms and whatnot, probably believing most people are not smart or wise. Now, don't get me wrong, both parties employ tactics to scare, I mean, motivate voters to turn out and vote for them. I'm personally a moderate because I'm a middle-of-the road kind of person, and it gives me the freedom to vote for anyone I want based on whatever is important to me, not what party they belong to. I'm bashing conservatives here because I've only heard the whole "it's a republic, not a democracy" from them. It's semantics to me. There's a technical definition in there, but that's not really the point. They put a lot more meaning behind that statement, like it's symbolic. Symbolic like the "Don't Tread on Me" flag. Symbolic of believing they are oppressed by an out-of-control federal government and they'd have better lives if it didn't do x, y, or z. It's political views that most people feel they have to make that correction. The U.S. is a democracy and it's taught that way. It's not a monarchy or autocracy or dictatorship (though it's kind of an oligarchy). I believe it's classified as a Constitutional Republic and a Representative Democracy. I think those define related but separate things if I remember correctly. Wikipedia is probably helpful here. Anyway, most of the time, it's not the technicality that people are arguing about, it's the political views behind that statement that compels them to bring it up.
Funny Benjamin Franklin said it was a Republic.
So Ben and Feli have something in common.
Don't kid youself. This isn't just a question of lack of civics education on the topic in high schools. The people who keep on insisting the US is not a democracy but a constitutional republic are almost always one type of person. Extreme right wingers who are a) pissed off that the Confederacy lost the Civil war, b) obsessed with their gun rights and terrified that that only thing that prevents "the will of the people" confiscating their guns is the Constitution, and c) regard anyone who'se not a white christian nationalist as fundamentally non American.
It's not "extreme right wingers" who say such things. It's deluded boomers who think that quoting some factoid they learned in 7th grade is insightful or relevant. The extreme right would generally say that we are indeed a democracy and that is why everything is so awful these days. I would know, since I am on the extreme right.
@@Oda__NobunagaSo extreme right wingers and boomers then.
I think if she wants to go political on us she should change her platform
I think she wants to talk about the differences and similarities between Germany and the United States and a big part of both countries is politics.
Yess! Felt the same way when I came to live here first from India . Felt really weird to walk
The misconception exists primarily in the right-wing half of the country who support the Republican Party. The Republican Party leaders want their supporters to believe that "America is a republic, not a democracy" as a way to say "see, that's why the Republican Party is right and the Democratic Party is wrong". Also, the Republican Party benefits from quirks in the population distribution of the country that makes their voters' votes disproportionately more powerful than Democratic voters' votes and they can control a majority of the government with a minority of the votes. The Republican Party justifies their systemic advantage in and this unrepresentativeness of the American electoral system with the phrase "America is a republic, not a democracy".
No - you are wrong. It is a Constitutional Republic.
We are a Republic. It is no wonder why Germany lost the war, both of them. LOL!!!!
Lmao. If you haven't, you should hear her what she thinks about the Second Amendment. Hitler knew how much power he had by disarming the Jews. She’s a leftist, plain and simple. But she can preach on, I'll respect her First Amendment right.
Wie konntest du so falsch liegen?
The arrogance and pomposity are strong in this whipper-snapper! You, a twenty-something who has been in the USA for what, 12 or 15 years, think that you know history and government above all others? That you know more about our form of government than we do? That you can school us about the land of the free and the home of the brave because we let you in and you have a smidgen of education? If America's founders had formed a democracy, would Ben Franklin have answered with "A republic...if you can keep it." Would generations of school teachers, public officials and others have emphatically taught us to recite "and to the republic for which it stands" if there weren't a blessed difference? You would be much better served, and of better service, to explore the question "how can it be that, in only 1 generation, a world-class public system has lost its grip on education such that only a minority of its people understand the tenets of their own government while also losing the leadership in science, math, history, technology, economics, language, and other measures of culture? I'll give you a hint. We allowed it to be federalized. Don't believe me, do you? It'll take you less than 2 minutes searching the internet to find a 1880's-1920's 8th grade graduation test that you can't pass. I probably can't. 85% of Americans can't. Yet it was required, REQUIRED for admission to high school just over a century ago. ADMISSION. The schools which taught these common children were overseen by local school boards. Common citizens. Teachers who usually had no college education and often were high school students themselves. You have a great deal to learn, young lady. Thankfully, you probably also have a lot of time to learn it. I hope that you learn it well. American exceptionalism was real. Let's make it so again.
You sound so ridiculous. You would think with all the time you've had you would have learned a bit of wisdom.
It's less of a political science thing and more of a cultural thing. There are a lot of people in America who were born in the previous century and were raised under a rock. Their families taught them that they represent the majority of people in America. Then free speech and social media over the last 20 years made them realize they actually don't. The idea of a "constitutional republic" to them, sounds like a way around going by the will of the people and embracing change.
kzread.info/dash/bejne/iKOb3KexgJbXmKw.htmlsi=jdjWUvYjEDdelug5
We are a Constitutional Republic, we use elements of democracy in how we elect our representatives. The supreme law of the land is our Constitution and Bill of Rights that defines the powers and limits of Government powers. Our Constitution doesn't limit the people.
As an American, I am often frustrated by our lack of basic civics. I find it really embarrassing when people from other countries often know more about us than we do. Feli, I absolutely love your videos. Thank you for trying to educate us on our own form of government. I'm not being sarcastic either, I truly mean it. At the risk of sounding too old, back in my day (70's and 80's), we were taught civics as an entire class right along with the rest of the subjects. We were always taught that we as a country are a democracy and a constitutional republic. Thats just basic civics.
🇺🇸 Is A Constitutional Republic
Ironically, many cities and surrounding suburbs had wonderful public transportation from the 1880s through the 1940s. LA had an extensive streetcar network that, in fact, made the suburbs possible; the same for most cities. It was a shame these networks were dismantled and abandoned at the instigation of the automotive and tire industries after World War II.
representative democracy is the same as republic
Altitude makes a difference when boiling water too.