Happy 25th Birthday Greens. What's the Plan Now?

Twenty-five years ago, on the 13th of January 1980, the German Green Party was officially born. Since then, they have strayed from their sunflower-laced ideals, which over the years included pulling Germany out of NATO and instigating super high gas prices. Thank God.

Today, Germany's Greens -- now the strongest Green Party in the world -- turn 25. There won't be any grand parties or brouhaha. They did a bit of that last year to fete the unofficial 25-year anniversary. Still, it is worth taking a moment to raise a glass to a party that began as a scruffy band of pacifist idealists and has evolved into one of the nation's biggest power players. Many of the Greens' early devotees were members of the famous '68 generation, a group of left-wing radicals who wanted to change the world. Others were Trotskyites and Maoists. They sailed into the German conscience on the wave of post-World War II memories and experiences. That wave remains powerful even today and continues to influence the Greens' and other parties' policies.

Since their salad days, these young mavericks have grown hard with experience and the reality of being thrown under the cold shower of real democratic process. Many have actually morphed into quite good statesmen and stateswomen. Today, the Greens help run the government, serving as the junior coalition partner to the country's Social Democrats. Probably the best summary of what the Greens have achieved came 15 years ago, on Aug. 9, 1990, when, amid all the preparation for German reunification, the prominent Green Party member and former Protestant pastor Antje Vollmer made a sermon-like speech to the German Parliament. "The European world no longer is afraid of the Germans," she said. "That's because we broke out in 1968, because we blew out the law-and-order mentality of this land, because we -- a new generation -- have civilized German society."

One thing to note about the Greens is that they have never lacked self confidence. The nerve of this small group of friendly, former Maoist-loving rebels to declare themselves the healers of the republic stupefied even the most talented rhetoricians in the ruling conservative party.
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http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,336623,00.html

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My brother works in Belgium for a German Green Member of European Parliament. It's amazing to hear stories of truly liberal people actually having a voice in the affairs of the world.

Someday, someday.