2. Title of leader : Chancellor. Name of current leader : Angela Merkel. Elected in 2005. Term ends when a new Bundestag Convenes for its first meeting or when dismissed by the President. Background/Qualifications: In Germany, any Citizen 18 years of age or older can be elected in National, Regional or Local Elections. Minimum age for President is 40 by Constitution.

3. Title of Leader : President Name of Current Leader : Barack Obama Elected by the people in 2009. Length of term : Four years is the length of one presidential term in office. Each president can have a maximum of two terms in office.

4. Germany: Name of lawmaking body: Bundestag Unicameral structure, that has at least 598 every 5 years the German people vote. United states Name of lawmaking body: Congress. Bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election. Number of people: Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives represents a district and serves a two-year term.

5. There is no censorship and freedom of expression may be limited by law. Freedoms of Religion: Yes it states the Freedom Religion, conscience and the Freedom of confessing ones Religious or philosophical beliefs are inviolable. No one may be favored because of his/her gender, descent, race, language or homeland. The right to bear arms: To own a gun in Germany, one must posses a license issued by the police. A hunting gun requires a hunting license, which is issued only after a 1- year class (2-3 times a week) and an exhaustive test.

6. Germany has a multiparty system Names: Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Christian Democratic Union, with its sister party, the Christian social Union. Key Beliefs: its best summed up in the first sentence of the German National Anthem, Einigkeit – Unity Recht – Justice, Freiheit - Freedom. Symbols:

7. In the German city of Bremen have lowered the voting age to 16 in an effort to interest young people in politics. It is the first time the voting age has been lowered from 18. Qualifications to vote: To be eligible to vote, an individual must have resided in a constituency district for at least three months prior to an election. Elections: Elections usually are held every four years at all levels. Elections at the federal, land, and local levels are not held simultaneously, as in the United States, but rather are staggered.

8. Income taxes: The highest tax rate is 45% for taxable income of individuals that exceeds EUR 250,000 (EUR 500,000 for married couples). Income tax is payable by German resident individuals on their worldwide income. Non-resident individuals are only required to pay tax on German-sourced income. Ways Germans make money: The German labor force is broken up into these three major categories: services 63.8%, industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8% (as of 2006) The three main categories for services are as follows: financial, renting, and business activities 30.5% trade, hotels and restaurants, and transport 18% and other service activities 21.7%. The main industries are iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles.

9. Crime rates: In the US, there are roughly 17,000 murders a year, of which about 15,000 are committed with firearms. Germany's 82 million citizens there have been 794 murders in 2005. That's two more murders than in 2004. Murders per 1.000.000 inhabitants in the US: 56,3. And in Germany: 9,7. That means the murder rate is nearly six times higher in the US than in Germany. Prison populations: The U.S. prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail. The United States has four times as many prisoners as Israel, six times as many as Canada or China, eight times as many as Germany and 13 times as many as Japan. Punishments : East Germany abolished the death penalty in 1987. GDR courts had inflicted the death penalty in 227 cases. 166 were executed, of which 52 for assumedly political crimes (espionage, sabotage etc.), 64 for crimes under Hitler's rule and 44 for common criminality.

10. The first printed version of the American Declaration of Independence was in German. The very name of the country, America, was given by the German geographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507. Germans are not strangers to Americans, but have lived beside them, mixed with them and have nourished American culture in many ways. Even if Americans have lived closely with Germans, they have always been far from Germany. Not sharing a border with Germany and therefore living in fear of its military power is a second fundamental component in the American view of Germany.