The Big Sleep
by Timothy Egan
NOV. 6, 2014
This commentary skirts the real issues - there is a deeply rooted (Constitution, both explicitly in the way elections are defined, essentially mandating a two-party system, and implicitly in its current interpretation, e.g. one $, one vote, rather than one person one vote) problems with America's version of representative democracy, which puts it into constant, continual election campaign mode, with no time left for actual governing - Mr. Egan proposes concentrating on 2016 to avoid the hard task of dealing with the realities posed of 2014.
Many, if not most other system of representative democracy have a parliamentary system, where the conflict between legislative and executive is not pre-programmed, but indeed completely eliminated, as the majority in parliament (even if a coalition of some sort) is always the legislative also. These systems also allow for more than just two (relevant) political parties, which permits "protest votes" (such as this mid-term obviously was, at least in a substantive part) to be reflected in a third or new party, rather having one of the only two parties be hyjaked by crazies, which even the GOP now admits they have been. These parliamentary systems also do a much better job of limiting the length and cost of political campaigns, so that time and energy remains to actually govern in between.
So, as the loosers in the mid-term, let's not just stick our heads in the sand for the next two years, but work hard to be constructive partners. They won!
Many, if not most other system of representative democracy have a parliamentary system, where the conflict between legislative and executive is not pre-programmed, but indeed completely eliminated, as the majority in parliament (even if a coalition of some sort) is always the legislative also. These systems also allow for more than just two (relevant) political parties, which permits "protest votes" (such as this mid-term obviously was, at least in a substantive part) to be reflected in a third or new party, rather having one of the only two parties be hyjaked by crazies, which even the GOP now admits they have been. These parliamentary systems also do a much better job of limiting the length and cost of political campaigns, so that time and energy remains to actually govern in between.
So, as the loosers in the mid-term, let's not just stick our heads in the sand for the next two years, but work hard to be constructive partners. They won!
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