Monday, April 26, 2021

Our polarized political world

        The alternate title for this post might be "How I stopped worrying and learned to love the gridlock".   Either describes the political situation we are currently living with.   However, this state of affairs is an anomaly in the democracies of the west.  In the parliamentary systems of western Europe, when a government is formed by the party with the most seats, its agenda is usually enacted against the wishes of the opposition parties.  This is the essence of majoritarian democracy.

      In the US system, because it was designed in the absence of political parties, minorities have many avenues to restrain and thwart the will of the majority.   Today's GOP has used the vagaries of the republican form of government to torment Democrats for the last 40 years.  This has finally become intolerable due to the existential threat of climate change and at least one aspect of Republican obstructionism, the filibuster in the Senate, has got to go.  The will of the majority is vital to the continuation of our present system.

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