I would be the last person to claim that German democracy has no problems, but the imminent (as in, at the next general election) takeover of all three branches of government by far-right extremists is not one of them. In that respect at least, the US has much more to worry about.
The tone of this subthread has been that Americans are dumb and can’t deal with our problems.
I’m saying that these problems are SHARED problems, and that the far right is setting up shop everywhere, and rather than sneering at each other over who is worse, maybe we acknowledge that we’re all facing a similar set of problems and support each other, instead of acting like some of us can’t possibly have a problem with the far right, when we ALL CLEARLY DO!
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It is also important to remember America is the oldest democracy out there, with 200+ years under one guiding document, albeit modified a bit and itself a replacement for a failed attempt (the Articles of Confederation). While it may be a bit old and creaky, and a number of newer, possibly more efficient models are out there, replacing it would be the political equivalent of heart replacement surgery, with all the requirements of making sure the new heart is good and compatible with the patient, who also has to be kept alive and healthy during the operation.
With apologies for beating that metaphor into a greasy stain, I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the better aspects of certain other democracies adopted, but most of those (different voting schemes for example) would need to be implemented at the state level, or only require a different branch to overturn a stupid ruling (Citizens United, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022.)) Still, if such amendments could be passed, or amendments to guarantee a right to control ones own body, or even just extending the deadline and finally ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, it would be an improvement.
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The Republicans did control all three branches of government from 2017–2019 but the United States ultimately survived, in large part because of the checks that the system has in place to limit the power of any one figurehead or party.
In the end Trump couldn’t even manage to throw himself a military parade.
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Quite. You guys in the US could start by identifying one out of the 100,000,000+ legally eligible, non-GOP-affiliated individuals who as a candidate for POTUS would be competent, dynamic, eloquent, popular, uncontroversial, unifying, and ass-kicking, without family members with an iffy history (or for that matter an iffy history themselves), whom everyone that doesn’t like the Orange Wonder and its cronies could rally behind, and preferably who isn’t 80 years old or more. Such a person would also make the US more popular in places like Germany – remember how Obama, for all his obvious flaws, was lionised here in his time.
In the meantime our federal three-party coalition government could try to get its act together, stop the endless in-fighting, come up with workable ways to deal with issues like the influx of asylum seekers, the energy crisis, the required reforms of medical care, education, the tax code, the military, etc., and especially find a way of explaining all of these in a manner that is not either patronising or infuriating to the electorate, such that fewer people feel the need to get one over on those idiots in Berlin by voting for the AfD just because they can (even in a state election where many of the issues above aren’t actually being voted on). Oh, and the moderate-right conservative opposition too. By working against the impression that government policy is completely disconnected from what the average person needs or wants, and that only the far-right people are the ones who really listen to that average person, that would go a long way towards making it easier for everyone here to advocate against AfD positions in our own surroundings.
We’ll all have to do our bit.
Also because of sheer luck, given that the guy at the top was obviously overwhelmed by the job and eventually incapable of finishing most of what he started. Imagine what might have happened if instead it had been someone smart, competent, and experienced in politics.
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I’d also encourage people to remember where the actual threat to democracy came from. It’s not some local structural problem. It’s that the Syrian government collapsed and sent out a wave of refugees, but they were mostly brown and Muslim, and racists started scrambling to do whatever to keep them out. And so America did Trump, and England did Brexit, and Hungary did its illiberal democracy, and so on.
Kudos to other countries like say Germany or Canada or New Zealand for not getting sucked up by that. But so long as they still have racists, the underlying threat is still there, regardless of what particular form their democracy takes.
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I assume this the thought going through McCarthy’s head. That there isn’t anyone else. They can oust him, then start to vote for a new speaker. My understanding is the House cannot conduct any other business until a speaker is elected. They can oust him, then start the rounds of votes to select a new speaker, and just go and go and go and go until there’s some slip up and the Democrats elect someone or it’s McCarthy again.
I think that’s why he waited until the last minute. To make sure nobody stronger would rise up and that the majority of the GOP would keep him. He could have cut this deal a week earlier and solidified a legacy that he prevented a shutdown, then likely been replaced. Instead he solidified that he’s a weak leader.
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This is exactly what I’ve been thinking lately. That both the Dem and GOP caucuses are really made up of a bunch of different groups within each party. That for things that pass on party line votes, most of the compromise is between these internal groups.
The big difference here seems to be that all the Dem groups generally agree on the goal of government, they disagree on the details/speed/nuance on how to get there. While for the GOP, there seems to be fundamental differences. Those differences combined with a faction that is perfectly happy to burn it all down, as long as they’re the center of attention, create extra problems.
I seem to remember (or just imagine maybe) another parliamentary government that formed an uneasy majority coalition this way in recent years.
As long as the GOP continues to pretend it’s one big happy group instead of dealing with it’s internal divide, this problem will continue. It’s especially bad since the GOP platform seems to be “get elected through any means necessary” and not any actual policy goals.
McCarthy’s personal goals certainly seems to be “remain speaker” and not anything else, not for any policy reason, but simply “do whatever keeps him speaker”.
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The United States is among the oldest modern democracies, but it is only the oldest if the criteria are refined to disqualify claimants ranging from Switzerland to San Marino. Some historians suggest that the Native American Six Nations confederacy (Iroquois), which traces its consensus-based government tradition across eight centuries, is the oldest living participatory democracy. Others point out that meaningful democracy only arrived at a national level in 1906, when Finland became the first country to abolish race and gender requirements for both voting and for serving in government.
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American ‘think tanks’ have sent a torrent of dark money to Europe and their policies are metastasising in the body politic over here, loving nurtured by new media outlets aping Fox News with no distinction between reporting and biased commentary.
Here in the UK, the new channel GB News not only employs Conservative MPs as presenters - it has them interviewing their Conservative colleagues with no attempt to provide balanced opinions or push back on ludicrous statements. And as it is allowed to continue doing so, it drags other broadcasters into ever more extreme, ever more polarising opinions.
Just a quick look at the Conservative conference in Manchester this week shows a party that has been completely consumed by far-right conspiracy theorists - openly transphobic talk; attacks on strikers; plans to rip up transport policies protecting pedestrians and cyclists; fracking; abolishing taxes for the very richest; praising far-right broadcasters; even plans to outlaw 15-minute cities which don’t even exist.
They could be concentrating on the utter collapse of the UK’s society and large parts of its economy. They could be asking why so many people are struggling to make ends meet; why our schools and hospitals are falling down; why our kids can’t read; why our rivers and seas are full of shit; why housing is out of reach to people on an average wage; why our relationships with Europe are so fractured; why there has been a sharp uptick in racist, homophobic and transphobic attacks; why even why we can’t build a railway after spending $100 billion - but that would require a modicum of self-reflection.
Their answer to a likely upcoming election defeat? To double down and lurch even further to the right towards the neo-fascist managed democracy promoted by Hungary’s Orban government. There’s even news today that Kemi Badenoch - one of the very nastiest of the nasty party - has been chatting to the originator of this chaos - one Rupert Murdoch.
(Sorry - longer rant than I intended)
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I would argue that all the current GOP politicians in major government positions want to burn it down, they just disagree about how much. The Moneycons want to burn just enough to make the government look bad and justify tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations; the Fundies want to burn a bit more so that they can fully privatize (and Xtianize) schools and healthcare; and the full-fat fascists want to burn it all the way so they can replace democracy with monarchy.
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… they’re going to make it illegal to live less than 20 minutes away from our jobs 
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I can’t help but notice that you seem to think that any time something bad happens in the United States it’s because our system of democratic representation is uniquely flawed, but any time something bad is prevented from happening it’s due to dumb luck rather than some aspect of the system working as intended.
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… wait, who’s next after Trump then
- Junior
- Eric
- Ivanka
- Jared
- Marla
- Tiffany
- Melania
- Barron
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voters
Because Halloween is right around the corner I’m going with Ivana.
Who says zombies can’t be part of that monarchy?
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None of the above. They intend to keep their god-emperor alive artificially forever.
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Empty Gee wouldn’t know “responsibility” if she was hit on the head with it.
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… is that my brain on the ’80s 
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Stormy.
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i mean ol’ Vic is still Empress of India. says so right on my gin bottle!
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