Today I did I little unrestrained sightseeing. One of the things I wanted to find was the North Korean embassy. We don't have one of those in Washington. North Korea has the word Democratic in its official name (I was very careful not to photograph any people inside the fence because there were a bunch of Korean children playing behind the building). Of course that alone does not mean that the country is truly democratic as we use the word.
I also visited the Reichstag, where the German Bundestag meets. There are Germans who think that the Bundestag isn't democratic enough. They would like to see more democracy in the form of direct democracy. Interestingly, direct democracy is something that I know a little about. Of course, the proponents of direct democracy don't want free and unfettered direct democracy as it is practiced in about half of the state in the United States. They would like to have regulations. The proponents of direct democracy believe that if you hold several initiative or referendum elections in a year with only about four or five initiatives or referendums on the ballot at one time that turnout will be high. I will ask that question of all of the voters in the November 2009 constitutional amendment referendum in Texas.Just for "fun" here are parts of a mural located on the building that now houses the Federal Finance Ministry. During World War II, it was the home of the Reich Air Ministry. I can't remember what the East Germans did with it, but it is located pretty close to the Wall. You can see the double row of cobblestones on the other side of the street from the building. I can see the building from my hotel room (I'm in the West, but just barely). There is an East German "workers' paradise" mural on the building.
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