Joe Steel
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2007
- Messages
- 3,054
- Reaction score
- 560
- Location
- St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Very Liberal
Do we have a coalition government?
When we hear discussions of European governments, the term "coalition government" frequently is used. In my understanding, it refers to two or more political parties uniting to control the government when neither of them would have enough seats for outright control. In the US, we're not all that familiar with the term because of our two party system. One party or the other always has enough seats. Now I wonder if that is changing.
Tea Party Republicans are a wild and unruly bunch. They're Republicans in name but they don't really share the views of moderate Republicans. The Republican Speaker of the House seems to have to treat them almost as a separate party to get their support for legislation. He has consider their views and goals apart from those of moderate Republicans and has to find ways to accommodate them. We're seeing that in the current government funding and debt ceiling battle. Without their support the Speaker would have to turn to Democrats to pass legislation. In a general sense, this may be a good thing.
James Madison warned against parties and factions in government. Despite his warning, though, parties sprang-up and have become a part of our political world. We may never be able to escape them so the next best thing may be having so many our legislators have to compromise with each other to pass legislation. Wouldn't that be ironic. The Tea Party's extremism might be the driving force of its own marginalization.
When we hear discussions of European governments, the term "coalition government" frequently is used. In my understanding, it refers to two or more political parties uniting to control the government when neither of them would have enough seats for outright control. In the US, we're not all that familiar with the term because of our two party system. One party or the other always has enough seats. Now I wonder if that is changing.
Tea Party Republicans are a wild and unruly bunch. They're Republicans in name but they don't really share the views of moderate Republicans. The Republican Speaker of the House seems to have to treat them almost as a separate party to get their support for legislation. He has consider their views and goals apart from those of moderate Republicans and has to find ways to accommodate them. We're seeing that in the current government funding and debt ceiling battle. Without their support the Speaker would have to turn to Democrats to pass legislation. In a general sense, this may be a good thing.
James Madison warned against parties and factions in government. Despite his warning, though, parties sprang-up and have become a part of our political world. We may never be able to escape them so the next best thing may be having so many our legislators have to compromise with each other to pass legislation. Wouldn't that be ironic. The Tea Party's extremism might be the driving force of its own marginalization.