The Weimar Republic

From the first par I choused

Article 4.
The generally recognised rules of international law are valid as binding elements of German Reich law.

I find it interesting that they choused to include international law in the constitution. To me it means that the Weimar republic was trying to elicit a favorable view from the international community by stating that it will abide by their laws

From the second par I picked

Article 21.
Members of parliament represent the entire nation. They have to follow nothing but their conscience and they are not bound to instructions.

I choused this article because I find it funny. On the one hand they are to represent the people and on the other hand they are to follow their conscience. In my opinion I want somebody that is representing me to follow my wishes and not necessarily his or her conscience because as unique individuals that we are, we may disagree on a topic or principal and if you follow you conscience against my wishes, you are not representing me.

1) What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of proportional representation?

From my understanding the biggest disadvantage that a proportional representation system has is that it fragments the leadership of the government in to too many parties and as a result they can not keep the government together and can not run it effectively. It also allows for a minority to rule the majority like in the case of the Nazis which took control of the government even dough it only got less than 30 percent of the votes.   

            On the other hand some of the advantages of proportional representation include: giving a voice in government to minorities groups therefore increasing the number of political parties. It would reduces “wasted votes” and produce higher turnout at the polls because people would know that their votes really count.

  2) What were the leading causes of the decline of the Weimar Republic?

The main problem that leads to the decline of the Weimar Republic was the bad economy. The hyperinflation, huge national dept and the effects of the great depression contributed in the USA contributed to the   horrible economic environment in the  Weimar Republic. Another problem was the proportional representation for the reasons stated above.

3) What is hyperinflation? It is  a very rapid escalation of prices  for goods and services. For example when in Germany 1923 a pound of bread cost 3 billion Marks.  Or when on December 2008, inflation in Zimbabwe was estimated at 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent (that's 6.5 x 10¹⁰⁸ % which is 65 followed by 107 zeros) soon after Zimbabwe was forced abandon its currency and create a new form of currency.

4) How would you judge the Weimar Constitution as compared to the American Constitution?

 I believe it the Weimar Constitution is very similar to the American. There are some provisions in the Weimar Constitution that differ from the US but over all I think is what you do with it that makes the difference. Look at what Bush started and Obama continued under the patriot act, the erosion of our civil liveries in the name of national security. I guess the short answer would be that the American Constitution is better because we are still around and the Weimar republic is not.