Bismarck is a very interesting leader in a lot of ways, but his Kulturkampf proved to be one of the greatest missteps of his administration. Anti-Catholic and other sentiments that stemmed from the Kulturkampf resulted really out of the air. There didn't seem to be any reason for Bismarck's hatred towards Catholic's other than his fear of the papal infallibility doctrine. When the Catholics were discriminated against they huddled together and formed their own political groups and organizations, and they were eventually more successful as a result of the discrimination. This got me thinking about other Kulturkampfs in history, and whether or not the long term effects were positive or negative. Specific Kulturkampfs are hard to find but I think a broader Kulturkampf has been commited against a lot of ethnicities and organizations. The Jewish people are the first thing that comes to mind because of the long history of discrimination. While they might not have been Kulturkampfed, their discrimination definitely led to a sense of community and organization that made them successful in almost every European country. A more specific Kulturkampf that I would argue is happening right now is homosexual people in America. With amendments being passed like crazy to try and stop gay marriage; I believe there has been more organization and communication within the gay movement than ever before. It is hard to tell if homosexual people in America are being ostracized; I would say there are not, and definitely not to the degree the Catholics were under Bismarck. I would say they are every bit as ostracized politically as Catholics were for many years. I believe they also suffer from some of the same propaganda that was used directly to influence the citizens of Germany. Obviously no one is attacking homosexual people directly except for Pat Robertson, but gay steretypes are often the most popular stereotypes perpetuated in tv and movies. I think in the long run homosexual will come out better having to organize and network politically, but we have a two party system in America so who knows.

Reading about the Burschenschaft got me thinking about what it would take for students today to become more politically active. The Burschenschaft are interesting because a large percentage of students were in one of these organizations at some income level, or so it seems. This many politically motivated youths is not unprecedented, but it is strange in the way that it came about. Usually youth movements are somewhat unorganized and unstructured, see hippies in the 1960's, but this movement was well organized with a specific goal in mind, the unification of Germany. It really surprises me that college students were so politically minded, especially about something like the unification of the country. It is hard for me to understand the sort of political spirit that was behind the Burschenschaften. I realize that times were tough and political sentiment to unify Germany was high, but to put a political organization together with such success is still impressive. I am trying to think of an issue that would lead students to the same sort of organization in America; I realize that a lot of students do organize politically, but I got the sense with the Burschenschaft incorporated a majority of students. I really can't see American college students getting motivated for anything like this even if the economy got a lot worse. With so many distractions for young people today I just don't think there is a will to get political goals accomplished. We will vote for Obama or Ron Paul but there isn't an activism like the Burschenschaft and there probably never will be again.