Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum << Prev Page of 8
Topic: Mideterm-o-Rama Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137450
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I’ve long thought we would be better served by a parliamentary system.

The only time I can think of where such a system would have failed us was Watergate. Under a parliamentary system, there would have been a None Confidence vote immediately, and Nixon would have been kicked out.

It was his clinging to office that allowed further and deeper probes that unearthed more and more malfeasance.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8754
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

I've been thinking along those lines for the past decade. I guess we invented impeachment to provide the way to replace the party representative while keeping the party in power, but we've seen how effective that is nowadays, and it's not like the voters get a direct say in the process, anyway.
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137450
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Thanks to the utter absurdity of the Electoral College, voters don’t really get a direct say in anything!!
Back to Top profile | search
 
Evan S. Kurtz
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 04 July 2022
Location: Canada
Posts: 487
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Potentially good news in that regard, JB. Democrat-controlled states have been moving towards nullifying the Electoral College by passing laws which mandate their electors must support the candidate who won the majority of votes, regardless of which candidate won the most votes in that particular state. 

At this point, if they chose to prioritize the matter, Democrats control enough states that something like 283 electorates would go to the popular vote winner, thus surpassing the 270 needed to be President. However it's not certain if Democrats will actually prioritize this, there were several Democratic-controlled states which had the opportunity to pass this law who have declined to do so, and there would probably be a legal battle involving the Supreme Court if it ever actually became a thing.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4241
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Back in the wake of the 2024 election, the one sliver of hope I'd noted that Trump wouldn't be able to screw with the midterm results so easily in swing states was that the majority of them had Democratic Governors. I'm definitely hopeful now that they do make an active push to abolish the Electoral College. Though there's no way it could be adopted before the 2028 election; it would be subject to a SCOTUS case from all of the GOP-led states whose political leverage would crumble if the EC were done away with - most notably the Race Belt states of the northern midwest. 

Though interestingly, I suspect Trump wouldn't care one way or the other, since he now will also be at war with his own party and could give even less of a shit about their fortunes going forward.
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4241
Posted: 07 November 2026 at 7:24pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I again question the idea of a Parliamentary system as superior to ours, simply because I don't look around the world and see it as something that has in any way forestalled other countries from truly self-destructing. Bibi has risen to the role of PM despite having been indicted for fraud and bribery; Cameron basically dismantled the UK's financial power by allowing the Brexit vote; etc. 
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137450
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Under a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister is the head of the party that gets the most votes. There is no absurdity by which the candidate who got LESS votes becomes leader because of an antiquated system intended to “equalize” votes.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8754
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

If the Electoral College were no longer a factor, which would be the better system?
Back to Top profile | search
 
Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 13431
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 6:03pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

If we eliminate the Electoral College in order to directly democratize the executive branch by ensuring the candidate with the most votes wins, there is still a good argument, given the USA's size in population and diversity and land mass and super-power military, to maintain our foundational grid of checks and balances to secure stability. 

We would definitely want, however -- and we need it now anyway -- a robust legislative branch refusing to cede its constitutional powers to the executive and where it already has done so, to take them back (e.g., powers over tariffs, trade, national emergencies, war, and independent governmental watchdog commissions).

In fact, given a strict choice between dumping the E.C. or Congress taking back from an over-powered presidency, I'll choose the latter.


Edited by Michael Penn on 08 November 2026 at 6:04pm
Back to Top profile | search
 
Andrew Bitner
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 01 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7617
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I can tell you that the mood in DC this past week has been happier than in quite some time. Nobody is fooling themselves that this is a magic bullet--we've been to this rodeo plenty of times--but the next Congress will exercise oversight and budget controls that the current one wouldn't. And, if voters can be pragmatic about their expectations, 2028 should be a good year also.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8754
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Funny how we've all been taught in US schools how we have a system of checks and balances between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, and yet the Founding Fathers could not have predicted someone like Trump perverting all of them.

This week was really the only solution that the people had left for the situation.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Peter Hicks
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 2181
Posted: 08 November 2026 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

“ Under a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister is the head of the party that gets the most votes. There is no absurdity by which the candidate who got LESS votes becomes leader because of an antiquated system intended to “equalize” votes.”
*************
Not necessarily.  In Canada, whoever was Prime Minister before the election gets first crack at forming the new government, even if someone else’s party finished ahead of them.  This would only be a possibility in a minority Parliament situation, and I don’t recall it ever happening.

Also, the Prime Minister is the person whose party got the most members elected to Parliament, not the most votes.  It has happened in fact recently that the Conservative Party got more total votes across Canada, but elected fewer MPs than the Liberal Party.  The problem for the Conservatives is vote inefficiency.  Out in Alberta, the Conservatives often get up to 80% of the vote, but in our multi party system, a candidate usually wins if they can get 38% of the vote, because the remaining 62% of the vote gets split between so many Parties.  So the Liberals have been winning elections in Canada for about a decade because they have been able to maintain around 38% support in all 338 ridings in Canada.
Back to Top profile | search
 

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login
If you are not already registered you must first register

<< Prev Page of 8
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login