9/21 - 9/27 Blog Post

I found the discussions on mass politics to be pretty fascinating, while I think it's pretty apparent that governments are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their power, seeing a specific example of it in practice and what it (possibily) led to is eye opening. In the article "Populists and Patricians", the author gives yet another explanation for the difference in Germany's historical development as compared to the other countries of Europe, mentioning that agriculture was still very much a way of life for many Germans, moreso than the English. Factor in the lack of education that most of these workers and peasants, and you've got an opportunity to shape their political beliefs in whatever manner you want, which they were given an opportunity when the rail became the dominate form of travel. That said, despite the article's attempt to explain the peasants of Germany as being a more powerful group of people, I still feel like he gives them a little bit too much credit. Reading the article, I definitely felt that it seemed more like the German government was just trying to find another group of people to use, and this time they had the dissatisfied peasants still reliant on farming to provide for themselves and their families. While the German government did integrate a lot of the policies that these activist groups were looking for, I feel like the only reason they gave as much as they did was because they knew they had an angry, rebellious group on their hands that if they lit the fuse at the right time, would have something very powerful under their control. Later in "Populists and Patricians" the author mentions how this rise in mass politics essentially destroyed whatever remaining power the liberals had, and even seemed to do some damage to the more centrist groups, which seems like the goal that Bismarck was trying to achieve during his entire reign. While the liberals had been neutered for a long time, it seems to me like the government was concerned with them having any presence on the political stage, as though that would cause irreparable damage to whatever plans they had. I do feel like I'm reading into things a bit too much, so any comments would be welcome.