well... this is true of presidential elections. Not however, of Congress. And what has made GW so dangerous is that he effectively cannot be impeached, and has a majority in both houses, correct? In the current debate over judicial nominations, a group of seven to ten independents or green party members or libertarians could in fact wield considerable power, I believe.
Dana > I just don't see how any of this will allow a weak party to slowly gain > power without taking power away from another and artificially empowering a > third. > > Would any of this allow, say, the Green party to grow themselves without > detracting from the Democrats and empowering the Republicans? > > Not that your suggestions wouldn't help in other areas, but they don't seem > to address building a successful multi-party system. > > We have very explicit "1-to-1" elections. One group votes for one person > and that person is elected or not. A party which gains 49% the vote gets no > representation at all if another party gets 51% of the vote. Overall things > tend to balance out, but all the elections are of this type - from local to > state to federal. > > In countries with successful multi-party systems they all have some > representation for minority parties. You vote for the _party_ with the > percentages of the vote determining representation in a legislative body > (the House of Commons, for example). > > The US system has no such rewards and that's not likely to change any time > soon. > > Jim Davis > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=17 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:158615 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
