search is broken, so BLOW ME if this has been done befre.

Anyway, I was musing over the pitfalls of a two-party system such as ours, and thus I became curious as to how multi-party systems tend to work. It seems painfully obvious that the two-party system inherently promotes bickering and distrust and what we know as "politics as usual," where one side says "the sky is blue!" and the other side says "NO ITS NOT!!!" simply because they are the other side.

Thus, I was curious if this type of bullshit exists in England, Germany, or anywhere else that has more than two parties. Yes, I know that theoretically the US has several parties, but only two really matter. I was just kinda wondering if my presumption is correct that the threat of a third-party "take-over" in these countries is enough to prevent two parties from engaging in the above mentioned foolishness.

Or, is it instead the case that multiple viable parties tend not to be so diametrically opposed as are the repubs and dems here, and thus that one party could attract more than just a "conservative" or "liberal" base. IE, maybe there would be a party that would be for progressive taxes but against homosexual marraiges(I tried to grab a seemingly "liberal" idea and blend it with a "conservative" idea...).

any, just my thoughts. anyone got any thoughts or anything to add?

9/13/2005 8:30:27 AM

you ever seem british parliament on tv?

that shit's funny

9/13/2005 8:42:51 AM

They wear wigs and shit.

[Edited on September 13, 2005 at 8:48 AM. Reason : G]

9/13/2005 8:48:02 AM

Well in England they have the Labour Party (Socialist), Liberal Democrat, and Conservative. I think it does help to give some balance to where people aren't just stuck on one side or the other. It kinda sucks though here in the US because of how the neo-cons and their ilk blast liberals and socialists to where the average yahoo doesn't know that there is a difference.

9/13/2005 9:08:35 AM

don't forget the greens

9/13/2005 9:12:36 AM

remember back in the day when you couldn't go a month without seeing the footage of that Asian parliament fighting
like, full on throwing desks and using mic stands as swords and shit

thats what we need

9/13/2005 9:14:18 AM

ONE-PARTY SYSTEM!!!1

9/13/2005 9:40:05 AM

KEG PARTY SYSTEM!!

9/13/2005 9:42:44 AM

well whatever party gets elected in 08 better use the neurtrino beam on those hurricanes.

9/13/2005 10:07:21 AM

or get Lee Greenwood or Toby Keith to write a song about it

9/13/2005 10:12:10 AM

preferably about putting a boot in its ass.

[Edited on September 13, 2005 at 10:15 AM. Reason : besides this topic is old, and we can barely (if at all) muster 2 decent parties as is]

9/13/2005 10:14:39 AM

^ actually, I think maybe the reason we can only muster two-parties is a flaw in the 2-party system: Disillusionment among the voters when both parties suck...

9/13/2005 2:33:46 PM

Quote :

"you ever seem british parliament on tv? that shit's funny"

They almost seem like they care about their constituents... perish the thought!

9/13/2005 2:36:29 PM

^^i agree, i haven't liked our 2-party system for quite some time now. Sort of a daunting task to try to change it though.

[Edited on September 13, 2005 at 3:19 PM. Reason : typo]

9/13/2005 2:55:12 PM

Fuck political parties. I say we keep party affiliation SECRET with regards to the 2008 election

9/13/2005 3:11:00 PM

god hates the US

two party sys is proof

9/13/2005 4:15:26 PM

^^

I wouldn't know who to vote for if they did that!

9/13/2005 5:12:34 PM

Quote :

"you ever seem british parliament on tv? that shit's funny"

Great, ain't it.

I wish our Presidend and Congress had a similar setup. Instead of thumping chests in the papers and interviews they would actually have to answer to direct questioning and pertinent follow-ups. I think the personal accountability would be great.

9/13/2005 5:18:41 PM

Quote :

"Thus, I was curious if this type of bullshit exists in England, Germany, or anywhere else that has more than two parties. Yes, I know that theoretically the US has several parties, but only two really matter. I was just kinda wondering if my presumption is correct that the threat of a third-party "take-over" in these countries is enough to prevent two parties from engaging in the above mentioned foolishness."

It does 'cause in the end, it's just coalitions or parties bickering with each other. When traditional coalitions fall apart, it's the equivalent of when Republicans bolted for Perot or Democrats bolted for Ralph Nader.

9/13/2005 5:52:20 PM