The greatest failing of American politics...

jayem · Nov 22, 2022

is the inability--on both sides--to compromise. Compromise is not a dirty word. It's a necessity. Making deals is how our government was designed to work. At times, our political leaders will have to give something up in order to gain something else. Of course, this is far from perfect. Our Constitution was a product of compromise. (And obviously, it's most glaring deficiency was the inability to end slavery.) Somehow, we have to get over the notion that making a concession is a capital offense. Donald Trump was on the mark to choose this as a campaign song:

Pommer · Nov 22, 2022

The problems started back in the days of Newt Gingrich being Speaker and his insistence that his caucus members not “fraternize” with Democrats after hours.

Then, too, came this “let’s make sure this Democratic President only gets one term” that Mitch & company adhered to in 2010.

We have a two-party political system which cannot be run as a parliamentary system, (where there is a “majority” and “opposition” party; where the majority gets to implement all of their agenda and controls all aspects of governance), compromise is baked into our system.

Brihaha · Nov 22, 2022

David S42 took my answer. Apathetic and uninformed voters seem the biggest problem here in America. We could have a respectable, functional government if we voters would stop the tribal nonsense and wield our power wisely. We could enforce term limits. We could demand our representatives work for our needs instead of their own elitist desires. Americans are too obstinate to learn from mistakes so we keep making the same ones over and over.

Occams Barber · Nov 22, 2022

Pommer said:
We have a two-party political system which cannot be run as a parliamentary system, (where there is a “majority” and “opposition” party; where the majority gets to implement all of their agenda and controls all aspects of governance), compromise is baked into our system.

As an American you may not be aware that 'parliamentary' (i.e., Westminster) systems can be hotbeds of compromise.

To use the Australian system as an example:

To "control all aspects of governance" you need control of both the House of Reps and the Senate. This is a rare event.
The combination of compulsory voting and preferential voting means that Australia elects a significant proportion of minor party reps and independents
This means that forming government usually requires a major party to reach agreement with small partie(s) and/or independents in order to form a majority. This involves significant negotiation
This need for compromise will be ongoing since passing individual pieces of legislation will also require cobbling together a majority agreement
Australian political leaders typically stand or fall on their ability to reach agreement 'across the floor' (i.e., to compromise)

At the moment in the Australian Federal Parliament one major party has a majority in the House of Reps while the other is ahead in the Senate. Throw in a significant number of independents and the compromise/cross negotiations become mind blowing.

As an observation: if compromise is so heavily 'baked into' the US system then why is it so obviously failing?

OB

Pommer · Nov 22, 2022

Occams Barber said:
As an American you may not be aware that 'parliamentary' (i.e., Westminster) systems can be hotbeds of compromise.

To use the Australian system as an example:

To "control all aspects of governance" you need control of both the House of Reps and the Senate. This is a rare event.

The combination of compulsory voting and preferential voting means that Australia elects a significant proportion of minor party reps and independents

This means that forming government usually requires a major party to reach agreement with small partie(s) and/or independents in order to form a majority. This involves significant negotiation

This need for compromise will be ongoing since passing individual pieces of legislation will also require cobbling together a majority agreement

Australian political leaders typically stand or fall on their ability to reach agreement 'across the floor' (i.e., to compromise)

At the moment in the Australian Federal Parliament one major party has a majority in the House of Reps while the other is ahead in the Senate. Throw in a significant number of independents and the compromise/cross negotiations become mind blowing.

As an observation: if compromise is so heavily 'baked into' the US system then why is it so obviously failing?

OB

My “expertise” on parliamentary systems admittedly is focused primarily on the English one, which is nearly as astoundingly entertaining as our House.
Thank you for the Australian system’s primer!

Search

Search

The greatest failing of American politics...

jayem

Naturalist

More options

Pommer

CoPacEtiC SkEpTic

More options

Brihaha

Well-Known Member

More options

Occams Barber

Newbie

More options

Pommer

CoPacEtiC SkEpTic

More options

Need help?

Similar threads