You will need this German word in the next few years, trust me. As a matter of fact, it would have come in handy in the past decade, not only in Germany, but in our beloved United States as well.
Like kaput or schadenfreude, "schildbuerger" has a unique quality that no single English word seems to be able to quite capture. Well, maybe there is such an English word, but I'll be darned before I let go of something cute about the German language.
The free online dictionaries offer "Gothamite, bum, fool" as translations.
A schildbuerger can have any of these qualities but none describe what he or she really is. The German Wikipedia has an article which we will not translate for you. Suffice it to say that the schildbuerger as a type and literary proponent goes back to 1597/1598.
The best description of the Schildbuerger we were able to find after losing our famed Random Research Team to the newpaper delivery business is from the blog "Sandman's Progress", and we are mucho indebted to the Sandman!
"The Germans have a series of allegorical tales in which the citizens of
Schilda (the SchildBuerger) embark on a range of schemes that seem, at
first sight, logical but on closer inspection turn out to be totally
misguided and pointless."
Having spent years in Germany, we came to realize that the tales of the Schildbuerger should be mandatory reading for any foreigners moving here.
Western governments ask of migrants that they read the respective constitution and the traffic laws, which are totally besides the point. Yes, asking of a Dutch person moving to the UK to read the British constitution is....well, really pointless.
British traffic law? An academic undertaking for people just trying to survive on the wrong side of the road.
That Dutchman moves to Germany? The constitution is like any other modern constitution, with minor differences. The Germans call theirs the "Basic Law", but the contents could well be flagged as unattributed quotes by modern plagiarism detection software.
Traffic laws are identical anyway, and you have much fewer canals in Germany to drive into.
More importantly, all these constitutions have one other thing in common: they date from well after the first historic record of the Schildbuerger.
Post-reunited Germany is seeing this old force gaining strength in the most unexpected areas of life.
Our current favorite is the Radio & TV license law that went into effect in 2013.
The premise supposedly was: a simple, just, long term payment system for public radio and TV.
What came out of it is a system in which someone collecting the very basic social security (aka. minimum on which to survive) plus an extra 20 Euros (rounded by us) a month pays the same fee as ye local millionaire. The experts called in by the public radio and TV stations call the fee structure a "subsidized service", interesting.
The collection agency set up by the state broadcasters requires you to go and apply for government benefits (like food stamps, housing, heating) and will only give you an exemption if the application is granted. The Germans have turned this support system into one of "tough love" (in modern BritSpeak), so, check it out.
There are numerous instances in which Germans, and more so foreigners, are prohibited by other laws from qualifying for these government benefits. Which disqualifies them from even applying for a reduction or waiver of the TV & Radio licence. You can make 50 bucks a month and still not be eligible!
If you hate government funding of NPR/PBS in the United States, never ever look at the government mandated "fee" in Germany unless you are ready to suffer a stroke (for which you want to be in Germany cause their medical system has suffered less from Schildbuergers).
Funding of the misnomed "public" radio and television services in Germany has been an emotional issue for decades but the recent success of the Schildbuergers has taken it to a whole new level.
It is nepotism on an industrial scale.
It is a true war on the poor.
And it is all very logical, totally misguided and pointless -- the Schildbuerger in action.
Or maybe not just the Schildbuerger? We all know our Germans: when they are good, they are really good, and when they are bad...
[Update] In the U.S.: The federal government appropriated about $445 million in
fiscal year 2012 to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which
supports both PBS and NPR. U.S. population ca. 310 million people.
German government mandated customer "fees" (or is it a tax): Over 8 billion Euros estimated revenue in 2013. German population ca. 81 million people.
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