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So my discussion topic of the day is what kind of political system do our non-US members' countries have:
1. What kind of political system, democratic or other? direct election of candidates or voting by party? and how many parties?
2. who pays for the campaigns/commercials/speaking engagements etc.? federally funded or public contributions?
3. comments and critiques of your country's system
oh yeah, and what country?
To start things off, I'll elaborate on the US model of democracy, which is a 2 party system with direct election of candidates.
All campaign activities are funded predominantly by public contribution. There are small amounts that are federally funded (partially from public funding collected with taxes) on an equal basis (presuming the party got at least 5% of the vote during the last election).
The US approach polarizes the citizenry by only allowing (for all intense purposes) two political views into the mainstream. All other views tend to get pushed out by the combination of the parties (and their political wealth and capital), the system and the media. In all fairness, this country was created with differing viewpoints in mind and we've managed to kill that politically.
Also campaign financing leaves too much power to the wealthier contributors, ie. corporations and their lobbyists. One congressman had said one of the major changes in terms of legislation over the past few decades is that in the past the lobbyists always had interests that they were pushing and they'd make "suggestions" to congressman, nowadays they're actually writing the legislation that's being passed, ie. bankruptcy bill passed a few years back was practically all handwritten by the banking industry and the results show.
now yours...
1. What kind of political system, democratic or other? direct election of candidates or voting by party? and how many parties?
2. who pays for the campaigns/commercials/speaking engagements etc.? federally funded or public contributions?
3. comments and critiques of your country's system
oh yeah, and what country?
To start things off, I'll elaborate on the US model of democracy, which is a 2 party system with direct election of candidates.
All campaign activities are funded predominantly by public contribution. There are small amounts that are federally funded (partially from public funding collected with taxes) on an equal basis (presuming the party got at least 5% of the vote during the last election).
The US approach polarizes the citizenry by only allowing (for all intense purposes) two political views into the mainstream. All other views tend to get pushed out by the combination of the parties (and their political wealth and capital), the system and the media. In all fairness, this country was created with differing viewpoints in mind and we've managed to kill that politically.
Also campaign financing leaves too much power to the wealthier contributors, ie. corporations and their lobbyists. One congressman had said one of the major changes in terms of legislation over the past few decades is that in the past the lobbyists always had interests that they were pushing and they'd make "suggestions" to congressman, nowadays they're actually writing the legislation that's being passed, ie. bankruptcy bill passed a few years back was practically all handwritten by the banking industry and the results show.
now yours...
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