General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How many of you took civics/government classes in high school? [View all]branford
(4,462 posts)I just don't understand the type of charges you really want, and yet would still maintain our democratic character.
Assuming you could amass a sufficient majority that agrees with your views, how would you change the fundamental nature of our governing institutions to permit rapid and easy change, ensure the system was still egalitarian, and prevent stark reversals in the event less progressive interests become the majority? How would you ensure that any government would remain both leftist and democratic?
Many other established western democracies have different systems than ours, usually parliamentary, where change is much easier. Nevertheless, most of these systems do not produce any better results (e.g., Canada and Australia, once as liberal as much of Europe, are now solidly governed by parties well-liked by Republicans). In fact, even with our purportedly more difficult governing structure, we're still the oldest modern democracy, and a political, economic, cultural and military superpower.
America is also more conservative overall than Europe and elsewhere due to historic and regional cultural and political attitudes, not because of federalism or a separately elected executive. Moreover, even though we are more conservative overall, unlike Europe, both on the state level and in the EU Parliament, truly far-right and violent political, often neo-Nazi, parties hold no notable elected offices.