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Should the US switch to a parliamentary system?

Should the US switch to a parliamentary system?

  • Total voters
    32
pamak said:
As an American, you show a good knowledge of the parliamentary system's functions.

Yes, it is a matter of opinion if you want stronger or weaker executive branch. As it usually happens, in the last 4 years Trump supporters wanted a stronger executive branch, and I suspect that in the next 4 years Biden supporters will want the same. So, in short, one can say that a parliamentary system is more prone to wilder changes of policies as different parties come to power. Each winnning party has more flexibility in executing his political agenda,

The US system can work fine PROVIDED that the society is willing to have a political field where compromises are accepted. The problem is that in at least the last 2 decades, we see a gradual polarization where people who wantto compromise are seen as "RINOs" or sell-outs. and if this mentality persists, I am ot sure if the US polticial system can lead to effective goovernance regardless of who wins the elections.
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The tone is set from the top. Neither Trump nor Obama were very good at the compromise thing because neither had ever really had to rely on it before moving into the White House. Let's hope Biden does better.
 
NatMorton said:
The tone is set from the top. Neither Trump nor Obama were very good at the compromise thing because neither had ever really had to rely on it before moving into the White House. Let's hope Biden does better.
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I recall Obama in the eraly years of his administration was willing to back down from the "public option" part of his signature bill nstead of bullying and insulting senators or representatives who were oppossing it. . He was very willing to engage Congress to find some compromises. If you equate Obama to Trump, I do not have hope in the functionality of the US system. By the way,
 
pamak said:
I recall Obama in the eraly years of his administration was willing to back down from the "public option" part of his signature bill nstead of bullying and insulting senators or representatives who were oppossing it. . He was very willing to engage Congress to find some compromises. If you equate Obama to Trump, I do not have hope in the functionality of the US system. By the way,
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Obama had one flaw, he believed in our better angels and thought the Republicans would work with him in good conscience. He was wrong despite compromising so much his signature bill was a copy of the Heritage Foundation and Romneys health care plans. What did the GOP do in return? Call him unamerican and elected a moron who said Obama was not even a citizen.
 
pamak said:
I recall Obama in the eraly years of his administration was willing to back down from the "public option" part of his signature bill nstead of bullying and insulting senators or representatives who were oppossing it. . He was very willing to engage Congress to find some compromises. If you equate Obama to Trump, I do not have hope in the functionality of the US system. By the way,
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You recall correctly, but that was most decidedly not a compromise with the GOP. It was a compromise with members of his own party.
 
Vadinho said:
Obama had one flaw, he believed in our better angels and thought the Republicans would work with him in good conscience. He was wrong despite compromising so much his signature bill was a copy of the Heritage Foundation and Romneys health care plans. What did the GOP do in return? Call him unamerican and elected a moron who said Obama was not even a citizen.
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Nice try. Obama had a large enough majority in Congress to not have to compromise with the GOP, and that's exactly what he did.

Had he crafted a plan with GOP support it would have been much harder for the ACA to be a wedge issue later on. His mistake was thinking short-term and not long-term.
 
NatMorton said:
You recall correctly, but that was most decidedly not a compromise with the GOP. It was a compromise with members of his own party.
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Do you recall the compromises Trump made with the members of his party?

Me neither.

The GOP was talking about death panels then and could not pass any health care law in 2016!
 
NatMorton said:
Nice try. Obama had a large enough majority in Congress to not have to compromise with the GOP, and that's exactly what he did.

Had he crafted a plan with GOP support it would have been much harder for the ACA to be a wedge issue later on. His mistake was thinking short-term and not long-term.
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GOP was not interested in compromise with obama. They were determined to block any health plan. They said as much. when they finally had a chance to pass their own what happened?
 
NatMorton said:
Do you recall me, in the post you replied to, saying neither of them showed much willingness to compromise?
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No, but I saw an attempt to put them on the same level which is unfair to Obama.


He managed to pass his signature bill by accepting a watering down version of Obamacare.

The GOP and Trump could not pass anything when the roles were reversed and Trump has shown time and time again that instead of trying to find some common ground (even with membes of his party), he is more willing to attack his opposition, again even when it exists within his party.
 
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99percenter said:
GOP was not interested in compromise with obama. They were determined to block any health plan. They said as much. when they finally had a chance to pass their own what happened?
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They never had a serious healthcare plan and that was exposed when they got full control of the government.
 
And soon after the pass of Obamacare, we had the 2010 mid-elections which gave the GOP control of the House, and the GOP leaders were blant and open about their strategy: make Obama a one term president. When you make such comments in public and prime your supporters with such rhetoric, you leave very little room to more moderates to reach serious compromises.
 
NatMorton said:
Nice try. Obama had a large enough majority in Congress to not have to compromise with the GOP, and that's exactly what he did.

Had he crafted a plan with GOP support it would have been much harder for the ACA to be a wedge issue later on. His mistake was thinking short-term and not long-term.
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right wing propaganda, he never really had a majority in the Senate as long as Joe L was around and the filibuster was alive. He had the first 2 years almost, Teddy died, Al F had a hard time being seated and Mitch said he would do anything to block everything Obama tried the day of his inauguration. Obama took that brief period of time to fix the economy, deal with wall street and pass the ACA. The next 6 years the GOP obstructed everything out of spite for our first black POTUS.
 
Vadinho said:
right wing propaganda, he never really had a majority in the Senate as long as Joe L was around and the filibuster was alive. He had the first 2 years almost, Teddy died, Al F had a hard time being seated and Mitch said he would do anything to block everything Obama tried the day of his inauguration. Obama took that brief period of time to fix the economy, deal with wall street and pass the ACA. The next 6 years the GOP obstructed everything out of spite for our first black POTUS.
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You really need to get you facts straight. Obama had very large majorities in the Senate and House during the first two years of of his first term (thought voters rendered their opinion on that starting in 2010).

In fact, the last time a Republican President had as large a majority in the Senate was as Obama did in those years was 1931. The last time the GOP had as large a majority in the House was also 1931. (You can vet both numbers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_divisions_of_United_States_Congresses#cite_note-22)

Obama started his tenure with historically high support in Congress. He had no need to compromise, and thus he did not.
 
99percenter said:
Depends. If trump is just the head of state he would have no power. He would just sign bills. Kind of like the queen of england. If he was prime minister and then yeah that would be a problem. But would trump ever become PM in such a system? Remember the people dont elect the PM directly. Parliament does.
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Trump would have never entered into politics in a parliament system. Does anyone think that Trump would have been a rep for years if not decades working his way up to PM?
 
Why don't people investing in "learning American Democracy Systems Civics Principles".... because this thread is nothing but a "drama spin game".
 
NatMorton said:
You recall correctly, but that was most decidedly not a compromise with the GOP. It was a compromise with members of his own party.
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Hardly, he added many amendments from the GOP to get them to accept it, they stabbed him in the back anyway.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Trump would have never entered into politics in a parliament system. Does anyone think that Trump would have been a rep for years if not decades working his way up to PM?
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Trump as a PM is just a hypothetical (one I started) to demonstrate the larger point that, in my opinion, the PM in most parliamentary systems has too much authority.
 
pamak said:
And soon after the pass of Obamacare, we had the 2010 mid-elections which gave the GOP control of the House, and the GOP leaders were blant and open about their strategy: make Obama a one term president. When you make such comments in public and prime your supporters with such rhetoric, you leave very little room to more moderates to reach serious compromises.
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Reminds me of how much support Trump was given the day after his election, or GW Bush after his.
 
ecofarm said:
What a moronic misunderstanding of the topic.
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The Tuna Casserole that I made last night could respond with a better post than the one you just posted there.
 
NatMorton said:
You're missing the point. There is executive power in a Parliamentary system, it's all just a question of who has it. For many such systems, it's in the hands of the Prime Minister. IMO, that is too great a concentration of authority, and I greatly prefer a system like ours that has a clear separation of powers. Trump as a PM would have both legislative and executive authority, and who would want that?
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I am not missing the point and check my location. I live here now and in the USA for 35 years. I understand both systems quite well.
 
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