Minds AMAaA - Ask me Anything about Austria [2016-12-13]
Table of Content
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- [20161201HofersLanguageAndGun] Hofer's language like Trump's? Is his gun a good thing?
- [20161201AreAustriansGerman] How German are Austrians?
- [20161202ThoughtsOnHofer] What effect would a president Hofer have?
- [20161202BestSuitedGovernment] A nonarchist's idea on the best suited government for Austria.
- [20161203RaisingChildren] How is life in Austria?
- [20161203LeaveEU] Will Austria leave the EU?
- [20161203CarCompanyAustralia] There are no kangaroos in the Alps... well actually...
- [20161213GenderVotingGap] A comment on The Gender Voting Gap by @IndependentMan
- [CommentSection]
The Idea
The upcoming presidential election and Stefan Molyneux' video about it prompted me to offer my personal viewpoint of what is happening in this country. Of course you can ask me anything about Austria - I try my best to answer it.
Please post your questions in the comments. Longer answers will be copied in the blog itself (and might be part of a video).
Would you say that Hofer use the same kind 'language' like Trump? And do you think he will win? I also read somewhere that Hofer likes to carry a glock so that is something good atleast. - idk [YouTube]
[20161201HofersLanguageAndGun]
I guess it is wise to state my thoughts on the freedom party FPÖ first, so you can evaluate my answer better:
- I consider FPÖ to be a left-wing (from an US-perspective) collectivist party. If you would put them into the political compass they would land quite in the middle. Explanation: [1].
- Some members of FPÖ can truly be considered to be Neo-Nazis. Not Alt-Right, not free-market nationalist, but national socialists.
- Many violent xenophobes endorse FPÖ and since decades FPÖ officials with this background are uncovered.
- On the other hand I accept that there is an intellectual FPÖ which I would consider to be free-market nationalists. - But they are currently not the party-leading "club".
To your question: Hofer is calmer than Trump and he has to be more considerate: Austria has many restrictions on freedom of speech and FPÖ (including Hofer) are regularly accused of violating the Prohibition Act of 1947 [2]
He might win. But don't forget that Austria has no real alternative media (especially not in German language), thus FPÖ is not well represented in the public.
The weapon is not a real consideration for people in Austria. We never had a right to a weapon it was always a privilege for specific occupations and few who insist. And even with a permit you are not allowed to carry a weapon at any form of gathering and almost at all places of public life: Public transport / public buildings / schools...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mDfDEFFSKI&index=2&list=PLRJQAqVMwPhfa1UVspL95V1v-PJ_skiVb
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbotsgesetz_1947
- 01. December 2016
Are Austrians German? - Karezza [YouTube]
[20161201AreAustriansGerman]
That's a question with the potential to stir up a hornets' nest, but I try to compress hundreds of years of history:
Before the Napoleonic Wars the Austrian Habsburg dynasty was the leading house of the Holy Roman Empire, but the HRE was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. The last point is important here: The member states of the HRE were always very independent (and at many points in time at war which each other). Additionally Austria had many crown lands which were not considered part of the HRE: Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia… Compare [1] and [2].
After the HRE, the German Confederation collapsed due to war between Austria and Prussia. When finally the German Empire was founded, Austria was excluded after the lost Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
Long story short: Today's Austria is ethnically a Bavarian-Alemannic-Hungarian-Slavic conglomerate, so yes we are German people. Politically we are only truly separated since 1866. But Austria was much more pan-European, multi-ethnical and multi-nationalistic than the other German nations ever were, so culturally there are many differences with rifts through language, values and how we tackle problems of daily life.
[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Map_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire%2C_1789_en.png
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisleithania
- 01. December 2016
What are your thoughts on Hofer? Do you believe he will be able to win? If so, will it have any major effect? As I know the presidency is rather a more ceremonial position than a true executive position. - @hsoj95
[20161202ThoughtsOnHofer]
My personal thought on Hofer is, that he is the better of two bad candidates. When ignoring my problems with both candidates the main individual problem I have with Hofer is his FPÖ background (FPÖ: See first answer in blog). If that party would have been able to get rid of the violent xenophobes and neo-nazis, while keeping the patriotic nationalists, he would have been an easy choice for me.
The Austrian president should be an international representative and has only few internal functions. Hofer already has contacts to important representatives of the Visegrád Group and some south east European states.
Is he able to win: Probably, but I really can't tell. Van der Bellen won the contested last vote (which is repeated this Sunday) only by a threshold similar to the population of the idyllic town of Feldkirch [1].
Major effects: First order effects? Not really. The Austrian chancellor, not the Austrian president, is the most important inner political office.
But second order effects? The European Union might lash out on Austria for having voted for Hofer, they already did that when we voted a ÖVP-FPÖ-coalition into office (ÖVP-Peoples Party of Austria / most conservative party of Austria). This might be a good thing in the long run, as it splits the European Union further, hopefully leading away from a United States of Europe back to the peace and trade union the Brits would like to be part of again.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldkirch,_Vorarlberg
- 02. December 2016
Austria is a relatively small nation, what kind of republic do you think is best suited for its size, people, culture and needs? Federal;Unitary; Direct; Representative; Other ? And how do you expect it to excel in the future? - @VergiliusRex
[20161202BestSuitedGovernment]
You are asking a nonarchist who's gun he would like to put to his head. On the other hand this means that I can give you a well-considered answer, as I don't have the emotional need to protect the current system.
I believe that both the Austrian people, as well as Austrian culture would profit from a constitutional monarchy, with the king replacing the Austrian president. First, a family trained from childhood to represent a country has its benefits. Second, much of our economy is based on tourism and palaces, shiny rituals and royal marriages are good for tourism. Third, in secret we all fancy the thought "How would the world look like if World War I never happend and most of Europe would be united under the Harbsburg's crown?" - people would accept being represented by a monarch.
As for the democratic part of that constitutional monarchy I would prefer district/city governments with control over almost all aspects of daily life (including police and taxes). At that size I don't really care if I vote on persons or parties, so this is something which should be left open to the districts.
In this idea two things are on a federal level: Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both ministries can not levy taxes and are dependent on the contributions of the assembly of district leaders, giving them an important veto on topics like mass surveillance and drive reformations by withholding funding.
How are these ministers voted for? I think an electoral college approach is a good idea, but I think the electors themselves should be more prominent than in the US. I find the idea of a popular vote for these two offices so dangerous (control over the military / ability to aggravate foreign relations) that I even would disregard the different population in the 95 districts/cities and just give every district one elector.
How we would excel? I believe we are always on a track to excellence, but if I had to say one thing: Get rid of the Gewerbeordnung (the law regulating commercial and industrial business).
There is a joke in Austria: "Did you know? The pope replaced the old testament with the Gewerbeordnung as it is significantly stricter and probably older than the bible itself. For a baptism you now have to visit seven bureaus, a notary and a tax consultant"
I love that joke. - My company is now a year and a day old and I went through that gruesome process, which was harder than the financial hit I took for quitting my handsomely paid job.
- 02. December 2016
What is it like growing up in Austria, is it a nice place, a dangerous place, a cold place etc... - @Kyononnon
[20161203RaisingChildren]
Austria is in general a safe place to live and raise children.
The winters are cold, the summers are hot, and we both like to ski and to swim. We have vast forests and high mountains to a point that I always feel uneasy if I can look to the horizon without a rock standing in my way, like in the vistas in Northern Europe.
People like to visit each other's home, drink a lot (we have great beer and wine) and whinge about our politicians, employers, the weather and life in general.
Whinging (Austrian German: Sudern) is an art form in Austria, as well as talking in subjunctive mood and trying to be non-committal: "Would you like to give me that salt shaker?" instead of "Please give me the salt shaker". This is also one of the biggest differences between German and Austrian speakers. But if you beat an Austrian to commit to a task, you can usually expect it to be done on time and done well.
In Austrian cities you have historical buildings filled with high tech laboratories making them strange but enlightening places.
I cannot personally talk much about country life, but if you remember that our culture formed when travel, even to the next village, was nigh impossible you can imagine that we have diverse traditions, dialects, songs and traditional clothing from each hill to the next.
And if you want to know what happens if city culture meets country culture? Its a mess, but it is a exhilarating mess: https://www.google.at/search?q=Aufsteirern&tbm=isch
- 03. December 2016
will you leave the EU ? - @chals
[20161203LeaveEU]
I believe that the current EU breaks down before Austria will leave it. Most movers and shakers are still certain that the EU can be reformed.
Also a referendum can only be legally started by the national assembly, not by the people: We can only legally force them to talk about an issue.
But none of the parties in the assembly are committed to leave the EU (even FPÖ just whinge about the EU without doing anything tangible about it).
I presume that all that disagree with Leaving EU, will tag all who disagree nazies and racist.. since that how the left works... we need liberty, even economic liberty once more. - @chals
Actually I had very calm conversations about the European Union in Austria. To talk calmly about refugees and immigrants (sadly a difference most don’t understand) is much trickier.
The problem with the Pro-EU crowd in Austria is that all the benefits they associate with the EU are actually brought by economic liberty: Freedom of goods, freedom of movement for workers, right of establishment and freedom to provide services, free movement of capital. Even if you talk about the problems of the EU they all agree and tell you that these problems have to be reformed.
Of course you and I know that there is no incentive for the EU-leadership to reform and if you bring arguments in that direction people get emotional.
- 03. December 2016
Are there good chances of being able to start a car company in Australia? - @Maxwell101
[20161203CarCompanyAustralia]
I don't know much about Australia, that's pretty much on the other side of the globe. There are no kangaroos in the Alps... well actually: [1].
- 03. December 2016
The Gender Voting Gap - @IndependentMan
[20161213GenderVotingGap]
This is a response/comment on "The Gender Voting Gap" by IndependentMan:
https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/655337192918360074
@IndependentMan Don't forget that the candidates themselves were remarkable for Austrian elections. To compare it to US elections that would have been like a vote *only* between Jill Stein vs. Gary Johnson (probability that happens, not ideologies... we have no libertarian-like party).
I heard all kinds of voting strategies people had in this election.
Don't forget that 64% of Van der Bellen voters simply wanted to prevent Hofer from being elected [1].
And that is not just the left-wing vs. slightly less left-wing split.
FPÖ is known for many xenophobic elements and a strong connection to the old national socialist party. With regular infringements on the Prohibition Act of 1947 [2,3,4] by prominent (former-)members.
Even if Hofer himself is not one of these extremes, his association with the party hurts him.
If FPÖ would have been able to clean up their (neo-)nazi-connections Hofer would have won by a landslide.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbotsgesetz_1947
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gudenus
- 13. December 2016
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