Quote:
Originally Posted by nvidia2008 
Yeah, UK, European and Japanese systems aren't that fantastic sometimes.
But UK and Europe got messed up because of their handling of debt and the EU/EC/Euro, not so much because of their parliamentary systems.
In fact I think the European challenge is that individual European countries tend to be reasonably politically stable but when it comes to the EU/EC/Euro there are some very grey areas about sovereignty, management of currencies, the European Central Bank, "slacker" EU members (they're even called PIIGS) and so on. That's been Europe's achilles heel, the attempt at bringing the countries together as the United States Of Europe.
Japan... Yeah, something went horribly wrong there.
I'm hoping Australia continues on the path of being one of the few developed nations that isn't financially imploding. The parliamentary system is somewhat tenuous since the lower house led by the Prime Minister only achieves a majority on a bill with the support of up to six independent lower house members. This has always been a sticking point of multi-party systems when you have a few members holding the balance of power of the whole government. So far, the independent members have played ball... they had to agree on which of the 2 major parties to support so that government could be formed. But these independent "crossbenchers" could easily cause havoc by sabotaging either of the two major parties at any time they choose.
Again I'm kinda late to the party (pun unintended), but I think this is what the Tea Party is trying to do. They're trying to be a third party in a two-party system and if the non-Tea Partiers are mostly in gridlock as is the case now, then they tend to have some kind of "balance of power". It is scary because you are seeing the rise of a non-official political party effectively holding huge sway over mainstream politics, and holding great influence over the two major parties.
Democracy's a bitch sometimes...!
Yeah, UK, European and Japanese systems aren't that fantastic sometimes.
But UK and Europe got messed up because of their handling of debt and the EU/EC/Euro, not so much because of their parliamentary systems.
In fact I think the European challenge is that individual European countries tend to be reasonably politically stable but when it comes to the EU/EC/Euro there are some very grey areas about sovereignty, management of currencies, the European Central Bank, "slacker" EU members (they're even called PIIGS) and so on. That's been Europe's achilles heel, the attempt at bringing the countries together as the United States Of Europe.
Japan... Yeah, something went horribly wrong there.
I'm hoping Australia continues on the path of being one of the few developed nations that isn't financially imploding. The parliamentary system is somewhat tenuous since the lower house led by the Prime Minister only achieves a majority on a bill with the support of up to six independent lower house members. This has always been a sticking point of multi-party systems when you have a few members holding the balance of power of the whole government. So far, the independent members have played ball... they had to agree on which of the 2 major parties to support so that government could be formed. But these independent "crossbenchers" could easily cause havoc by sabotaging either of the two major parties at any time they choose.
Again I'm kinda late to the party (pun unintended), but I think this is what the Tea Party is trying to do. They're trying to be a third party in a two-party system and if the non-Tea Partiers are mostly in gridlock as is the case now, then they tend to have some kind of "balance of power". It is scary because you are seeing the rise of a non-official political party effectively holding huge sway over mainstream politics, and holding great influence over the two major parties.
Democracy's a bitch sometimes...!
Well, when it comes to our elections system, it was not supposed to just be a 2 party system. The people were supposed to elect the person they wanted to run the country. The parties came in to consolidate the power and provide a platform to get the person the party wanted elected out to the people. Now people act like that is the only choice they have.
NoahJ
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
NoahJ
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
