Thread: GOP: now & in the future

Originally Posted by Accidental Ajarn

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...So our compromises happen before the general elections while in a parliamentary system the coalition building and compromises happen after.

I think both systems can be equally democractic.

Actually I would disagree. Making the compromises prior to the election makes folks choose the lesser of two evils - rather than really picking the person/party with the real views they most closely support. A two party system makes each party pretty much pick sides on each issue, rather than allowing them to focus only on the issue(s) they feel are most important. Rarely does one find themsleves in a situation where they vote for the person/ party they agree more than about 75% with. Whereas with a multi-party system everyone can choose specifically the issue(s) that mean most to them - as opposed to picking which party shares the most issue(s) in common.

On the parlimentary side of things the number of parties/ platforms are limitless and folks are far less likely to feel that by voting for candidate X they are wasting their vote.

Making the compromises happen after the election is a better option IMHO. Granted this does not lock in a platform for anyone going into things. But rarely does anyone agree with the complete platform in a two party system anyway.

In a parliamentary/ multi-party system every election gives folks a real chance to shake thing up. Much less likely to lock folks into one party long term, as opposed to a two party system. Two many times in a two party system folks hunker down with their party and stick with them come-hell-or-high-water. Not the case with a parliamentary/ multi-party set-up.

Believe me I practically bleed red-white-n-blue, so I don’t wish to change the constitution unless absolutely necessary (I depend greatly on the existing consitution to keep hold of my individual right to keep and bear arms). But I think we have practically exhausted the real benefits of a two party system and it’s time to move on. Part of the beauty of the constitution is that it allows for the people of the future to change it, and thus bring new life into our country. If it were up to me, we would significantly change things to make our system more of a parliamentary type system yet keep a stand alone executive branch, and thus keeping a three way balance of power between the executive, legislative, judicial.

Sadly it's not up to me....