Re: [OT] USA Elections
- Posted by jimcbrown (admin) Nov 05, 2012
- 2694 views
But of course, every government is suspectible to this - and in the US, we have all kinds of separation of powers and checks and balances to help deal with this.
Some of it has been dismantled (direct election of Senators,
What's the problem with this?
It was a key part of our original federalism. I recently reread the Federalist Papers. Many of their arguments hinged on the states keeping an eye on the Federal government and preventing excesses.
Didn't the federalists lose? The Articles of Confederation were thrown out (metaphorically speaking).
One key to this was the fact that half of Congress would be appointed by state legislatures.
The different term lengths and election cycles are still good as a balance to the House, but we've lost an important check and balance with the direct election of Senators.
This doesn't seem like a check against the federal government, but a check against the people. Why remove the ability for the people to directly choose their Senator - except to keep them farther away from the center of government by adding additional layers between them? After all, under the old system, it was members of state Congresses that elected the federal Senator, and those members were in turn elected democratically.
At this point, national parties have overwhelmed almost every state or regional influence (largely due to things like improved communication and a more cohesive national culture, I would argue).
I do keep George Washington's famous warning against political parties in the back of my mind.
