Thursday, May 05, 2005

British-Style Democracy

I love when the Brits have national elections, because they really do it with style. There's a lot of old-school political theater involved that isn't present in the made-for-tv version we have over here in the states. That's not necessarily to say I prefer the British system, but there are some interesting elements.

Our system in the U.S. used to be a lot more like a British parliamentary system. Few people outside of history buffs know this, but the evolution of the system is pretty fascinating.

For the first few elections after the ratification of the U.S. constitution, the President was elected essentially by the state legislatures, who also choose the Senators at the time. The practical effect was somewhat undemocratic, but in my opinion it's a cool concept.

1 comment:

Paul Dirks said...

"The practical effect was somewhat undemocratic, but in my opinion it's a cool concept."

The founding fathers were torn between the idea of empowering people to run their own affairs and turning government over to IDIOTS!!!