It is noteworthy that when Japan lost World War 2 and basically had democracy forced upon them, they studied the various forms of world democracy and decided to go with the parlimentary system. I have long been in favor of the parlimentary system. If we had the parlimentary system Bush would have been voted down in a vote of no confidence a long time ago. On the other hand, we might be in our third or fourth Clinton adminstration by now.
~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Hillary wins, Obama second, Edwards a solid (and sadly, consistent) third. McCain wins, flip-flop Romney second, Huckabee, Guliani, Ron Paul small but significant percentages. What will happen? Down the line Hillary and Obama will have to court Edwards, same for the Republicans (can't say who must court whom there, 'cause not sure who'll be stuck in third and fourth on that side). Heck, it might be possible that we actually go all the win to the conventions before a clear winner is chosen! Backroom deals, party favors traded--what a trip! > > The thing that saddens me is that despite all of the above, America has become a two-party system. True independents, populist movements, little known but important issues--all get ignored in the wake of the two behemoths that crush or absorb the smaller town criers. The voices of the Kucinich's, Edwards and even fringe guys like Paul get silenced, or at best, made promises of inclusion, then get used, absorbed and forgotten. Or, perhaps they get a seat at the table by selling their souls. > > True change doesn't come often when you force all issues into two badly fitting paths of Democrats and Republicans, whose labels are inconsistent and inaccurate. The two-party system allows the status quo to continue. But if we Americans could force a multi-party system, if we could craft a country where party was less important than principle, where true coalitions could be built, maybe things would be different? How cool would it be if Congress had 17% people from the Progressive party of John Edwards, 10% from the Take Back America party of Ron Paul, 11% from the Real Patriot party of Kucinich? What if an independent or third party candidate could actually win without having to declare for the Elephants or the Donkeys? What if here in Georgia and other states, we didn't get forced to declare for only one party in the primaries? It seems to me that this two-party system, this lack of coalition building, is hurting us. The process is strange, skewed, inaccurate and broken. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
