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How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 11, 2013 at 8:51 pm
(This post was last modified: September 11, 2013 at 8:53 pm by Something completely different.)
With the mayoral election in New York comming up and it being reported here as if it were a major political possition and election in the US, I have to ask how important that possition actualy is.
Here the cities of Hamburg and Berlin are their own states. Hamburg has a very long history of being a very independent city that went it`s own way despite what the rest of the country was doing. And Berlin is simply to big and awsome to be simply integrated into the boring state of Brandenburg. So being mayor of either Berlin or Hamburg will make you the german political equvalent of state govenor and since this is a federal greatly decentalised republic in which states have powers capable of confronting the federal goverment, it is a very powerfull possition. Both have traditionaly been a place from which high rising and important political figures rise from and both cities have traditionaly been very left wing. Two of the 3 social democratic chancelors that Germany had where a mayor of Berlin (Willy Brandt) and a mayor of Hamburg (Helmut Schmidt). The current mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit has been very present in the media and is seen as one of the most important political figures in the country. I think it is also worth mentioning that as a homosexual he played an important role in the German gay rights movement.
The current mayor of Hamburg is a boring bureaucrat, but has the power to impact the policies in the national party and of the federal goverment.
Germany used to be a country of divided nations, so major cities do play important roles in state politics. But only Berlin and Hamburg can have an impact on federal policies.
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 11, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Its important within the city in question, and to a lesser extent the surrounding area.
Who happens to be mayor of New York or Chicago means fuck all to me. Even state governors mean little elsewhere. Senators? Now those matter.
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 11, 2013 at 9:23 pm
(September 11, 2013 at 9:20 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Its important within the city in question, and to a lesser extent the surrounding area.
Who happens to be mayor of New York or Chicago means fuck all to me. Even state governors mean little elsewhere. Senators? Now those matter.
So your states dont have any political leverage against the federal goverment?
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 12, 2013 at 11:10 am
I really don't give two shits who the new mayor of NYC will be. Looks like Anthony "look at my" Wiener is out.
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 12, 2013 at 2:13 pm
The ex mayor of Gosport works down the hall from me.
So not very important the only mayor i know with any actual power is the Mayor of London who, god help us, is the mobile mumble factory known as Boris Johnson.
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 12, 2013 at 6:36 pm
(September 11, 2013 at 9:23 pm)The Germans are coming Wrote: (September 11, 2013 at 9:20 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Its important within the city in question, and to a lesser extent the surrounding area.
Who happens to be mayor of New York or Chicago means fuck all to me. Even state governors mean little elsewhere. Senators? Now those matter.
So your states dont have any political leverage against the federal goverment?
Well, within the US constitution, there is Article 5, which grants the states the right to a national convention, assuming 34 other states agree to it. Then those states can amend the constitution without senate approval.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Fiv...nstitution
Also, the 10th amendment grants the state's rights where powers are not delegated to the federal government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amend...nstitution
Yet, rarely is the 10th amendment used to invalidate a federal law. In my view, lately the federal government has been growing, even more troubling is the collection of data by the NSA, and yet again no one seems to bring in another part of the constitution regarding illegal searches without warrants. Seems to me this is very close to violating the fourth amendment. Again, a federal government spiraling out of control and no checks put in place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amen...nstitution
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 12, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Bugger all. Mayors of towns, cities, or entire districts have little or no impact on national policies. They used to, when municipalites could schedule elections whenever they liked (the national government still does it) to try to affect the make-up of Parliament without having a national election. Now, however, local government have fixed election dates.
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RE: How important are the mayors of major metropolises in your country?
September 12, 2013 at 7:29 pm
(This post was last modified: September 12, 2013 at 7:30 pm by Jackalope.)
(September 12, 2013 at 6:36 pm)sarcasticgeographer Wrote: (September 11, 2013 at 9:23 pm)The Germans are coming Wrote: So your states dont have any political leverage against the federal goverment?
Well, within the US constitution, there is Article 5, which grants the states the right to a national convention, assuming 34 other states agree to it. Then those states can amend the constitution without senate approval.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Fiv...nstitution
Also, the 10th amendment grants the state's rights where powers are not delegated to the federal government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amend...nstitution
Yet, rarely is the 10th amendment used to invalidate a federal law. In my view, lately the federal government has been growing, even more troubling is the collection of data by the NSA, and yet again no one seems to bring in another part of the constitution regarding illegal searches without warrants. Seems to me this is very close to violating the fourth amendment. Again, a federal government spiraling out of control and no checks put in place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amen...nstitution
There's that, and the power that is held collectively by congress.
Other than that, there are no official channels. Unofficially, elected officials can exert whatever political influence they've gathered (the same as lobbyists, industrialists, and the wealthy), with varied ethical implications.
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