I vaguely remember other political deadheads suggesting the same thing 35 years ago. All of these proposals for switching to a parliamentary system disappeared after the election of Ronaldus Magnus.
I vaguely remember other political deadheads suggesting the same thing 35 years ago. All of these proposals for switching to a parliamentary system disappeared after the election of Ronaldus Magnus.
In some ways the U.S. is basically a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature. This is a great system because it provides a weighted balance between population-based governance and the sovereignty of individual states. Another advantage (in one respect) of the U.S. system is that it is very stable and predictable. You can look at a calendar decades in advance and know when exactly each presidential election will be held.
The flip side of this point is that I believe parliamentary elections tend to be much less media-driven than ours -- mainly because the uncertainty about elections makes for a very short election cycle instead of the stupidity we see here in the U.S. where the primary season for a presidential election is eventually going to start almost a year in advance of the election.
I think a lot of what the author ascribes to the U.S. system of governance is more a function of a two-party system than anything else. The parliamentary system is inherently unstable if it includes numerous minor parties, but would be much more stable in a country with only two major parties like ours.
What they really want is a Politburo system.
I’d love to have “Question Time” over here.
Our system of government is just fine.
Where we have problems, is our elections, and the state sponsored propaganda that encourages the weak minded public to do the worst they can against our Capitalist society.
I’m watching some past season episodes of a show called Continuum. The anti-corporate propaganda in that show is amazing. It boggles the mind how a group of U. S. Citizens could develop a show that is so diametrically opposed to a free capitalist society.
We haven't been one for quite some time.
By all means,
Pack yer friggin’ bags and get the frick out
The author actually manages to miss the primary argument in favor of a switch.
Our system is designed, as stated, to not work. That’s what the famous “checks and balances” are designed to do. Which works pretty well for a government with limited powers and responsibilities.
What we have now is a government that is trying to “run the country,” something it was neither designed nor intended to do.
This leaves four options to us:
1. Continue with our present system, in which the government struggles to “run the country” with a Constitution designed to keep it from doing so.
2. Change the Constitution by amending it so it better reflects what people now want their government to do.
3. Ignore the Constitution so the government can function. This is what has been done more and more frequently over the last 50 years.
4. Return to a government of limited powers and responsibilities, which can function perfectly well under our present Constitution.
My personal preference would be for 4 (way in the lead), with a reluctant assent to 2 if sufficient support can be put together. After all, changing the Constitution when enough people want to is perfectly constitutional.
However, I strongly suspect we’ll continue limping along with a combination of 1 and 3, with 3 increasingly dominant as time goes by.
We live in an era of sharply distinct, internally disciplined, programmatic parties with very different visions of how the nation should be run.
No, we don't. We live in an era where the two parties are increasingly commanded by a small ruling class and whose policies converge to squeeze significant nonconforming populations out of influence. We live in an age where both formal parties agree on (1) big government, (2) high taxes, and (3) the maintenance of political power through means contrived and mendacious enough to make a carnival barker blush in shame. We live in an age of oppressive, parasitical bureaucracy and noisy, self-centered political activism. We don't need a new form of government, we need to cut in size and repopulate the one we've got with somebody other than wealthy, manipulative power junkies who use the people's trust as a ticket to a life of luxury.
“in order to establish a government that can actually get things done.”
But that is the last thing any red blooded american wants.
ummmmm... NO!!!I think the question was originally asked, in what became this country, in the 1770’s. It was settled then.
There’s nothing new under the sun. Just leftards raising old and settled issues as though they’re something new.
Why is it that people are always looking for a reason to open the constitution to change? I don't trust any modern day politician, political junkie, or stupified voter to improve anything - especially the US constitution.
We don't need to change the constitution to deal with "strong parties". We just need sensible laws to limit the money available to buy politicians.
If only real, individual citizens were allowed to donate to politicians and political campaigns, and if there was a reasonable limit on the amount they could donate, many of our problems would evaporate.
Imagine the difference it would make in a typical campaign if all the political donations had to come from actual people who are citizens - no big monety from labor unions, PACS, corporations, civil rightes groups, bundlers, etc.
One thing is for sure - we would have a drastic fall in the numbers of politicians who become millionairs after being elected to the senate and congress.
Yes, let us hold a Constitutional Convention to debate this question. But before we reach that agenda item, let us debate the wisdom and impact on liberty of allowing the government to print air-backed money and place all citizens in debt-serfdom. Let us debate the impact on liberty of allowing government to continually expand the welfare and commerce clauses, so that a man, growing his own corn to feed to his own hogs can be put under federal law because he is somehow engaged in interstate commerce.
Let us then debate the impact on liberty of saying that since an old topographical map shows a dashed blue line running through a field, that intermittent drainage is actually a “navigable waterway” and is to be put under such control of the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA that a farmer cannot rectify erosion damage without getting a permit that costs $10,000 in environmental studies.
Yes indeed, there is a whole host of crimes and misdemeanors that the federal government commits upon its citizens since it has burst the chains of the 13 enumerated powers in the Constitution that lovers of big and Bigger government have managed to exile over the last 100 years or so.
A modest reform to better tie the President to the Congress is to adopt the Maine-Nebraska Method. (1 Elector to the winner of each Congressional District, and 2 to the winner of the state.)
We can do this incrementally, state by state, without changing the Constitution. And, see if it works. Only if a consensus develops that this was a good reform, should we then change the Constitution.
People forget that Parliaments are essentially monarchistic. They concentrate power in the prime minister and cabinet and the only limits on them are political.
nope,’screw’that.
Last thing I want is a government that "gets things done" in the legislative sense.-
They already screw up more than enough already, by messing with things that ought not be messed with.
I believe this question was eloquently investigated by Jean Jacques Rousseau in THE SOCIAL CONTRACT. He concluded that the English Parliament was a flawed system plagued by the very same problems associated with our legislative branch of government. I do firmly believe we need to replace our current system with one that is better suited to equal representation for all citizens. The state of degradation that has befallen our federal government is all part of an historical cycle that has destroyed states throughout recorded history. As a state grows and prospers, it’s citizens, the body politic, become more interested in the arts than what the government representatives are doing.
We have almost reached a point where we will be unable to rescue our nation from ruin - almost. We are already on the downside slope that leads to the abyss that swallows up states but if we act quickly, there is still an opportunity to not only halt our downward slide but rise up and over the precipice. The best way to do this is by physically re-locating our federal government to a rural community far away from the Washington, D.C. area. The logistics of this may seem intimidating but when necessary, we have risen to the occasion and accomplished more daunting tasks. There is sound reasoning behind my suggestion but in all honesty, I do not believe there would be enough support to initiate this fix.
We began our journey through history as a republic and have become a democracy. There is a marked difference between the two: A republic places control in the hands of the common citizens and a democracy finds a small group of wealthy and powerful individuals clutching that power in their despotic hands.
I am hopeful that the citizens who have become complacent will wake up and become active, preferring to spend their weekends studying government instead of football scores. There is nothing more painful to witness than apathy; knowing that this pleases those who rule over us.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to lessen our educational focus upon math and science and balance it with a focus upon sociology, history, philosophy and government. The Humanities have all but but been dismissed from the curriculum in the lower grades and what better time could there be to begin preparing our young citizens for active participation in their future?