what is your least favorite thing about the US's system of government?

[taxidriver]

the following things leap to my mind...


electoral college

supreme court justices being able to appoint a president

the fact that congressional approval isnt really necessary to go to war

the uneven representation presented by two senators for each state, regardless of population.

almost every single executive order that the president is capable of making in the time of a 'national emergency'. look them up if you'd like, its unnerving.

am i missing anything?

[salin]

1. Legal bribery... via campaign finance.

our system has become obscene.

[depakid]

12. Yep- that's the lynchpin

Once the Supreme Court equated money with free speech in Buckley v. Valeo the writing was on the wall. It is this twisted reasoning that sets us apart from all other western democracies.

It's sort of like using "freedom to contract" to strike down labor and health & safety laws (as happened repeatedly during the Progressive Era).

[priller]

20. Bingo!

-nt-

[polar]

2. Electoral College

The fact that Wyoming has like 100k people represented per electoral vote whereas California has 400k per electoral vote.

[wuushew]

14. Well does the structure of the Senate irritate you as well?

The Executive branch is no worse than the Senate and simply splits the difference between the House of Reps and the Senate. The problem in my opinion is that small dink-water states have for decades been very very red socially and this has lead to a one party bias. Remember FDR got a lot of support for the New Deal from poor rural farmers.

If elections were a game of darts the person who shoots first often has a better chance of winning. In the long run you can get rid of biases by having the loser shoot first next game so the inequity evens out. The problem with the electoral college is the small red states have consistently stood against progressive liberal policies and there is nothing our party can nor should offer them to change their vote.

[taxidriver]

3. i forgot to add....TWO PARTY SYSTEM. dammit.

[denverbill]

5. Well, the two party 'system' isn't a law.

That's my biggest problem with the US system of govt though.

If I could change one thing, I'd go to a system more like Germany or most other countries where, instead of voting for a candidate, you vote for a slate of candidates and representation is proportional.

So, for example, if there are 100 seats open, the Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, etc each post a slate of 100 candidates. If the Democrats get 40% of the vote, their top 40 candidates are elected. If the Libertarians get 2%, their top 2 candidates go.

That system would actually give third parties a chance and prevent corporations from buying influence so easily.

[fdr_hst_fan]

13. As I remember from

my reading of William L Shirer's "The Collapse of the Third Republic", France had that kind of government. They had such difficulty in governing themselves, they had to put a revolving-door on the Premier's office, because no administration could last more than a few months-lack of consensus. In fact, I believe at one point, they had 53 Premier changes in 50 years! How would that go in THIS country?

[bryant69]

4. Not sure I agree with you on the two senators

There are some pretty specific reasons why the senate was done that way, and I think those reason are still valid (were it strictly proportinal small states would constantly get the shaft, New York and California would get everything they want all the time, Maine and Montana would get bupkiss).

Agree with the other ones.

Also don't like the idea of unfunded mandates.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Wwagsthedog]

6. You seem to have covered most of my hot buttons

One item that I'd like to add is that the continuing spread of imperial america, while being funded by congress as black ops, military or other pentagon slush money, is going to contribute to breaking our piggy bank if it hasn't already.

A question; Does our constitution or some other law justify "supreme court justices being able to appoint a president"? My observation is that a coup occured in December, 2000. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[taxidriver]

8. it doesn't, but my post wasnt necessarily about constitutional quotas.

a few were annoyances i had with the way the system currently works.

[IrateCitizen]

9. Read "The Betrayal of America" by Vincent Bugliosi

It's an excellent legal dissection of the "Felonious Five" ignoring all legal precedent in Bush v. Gore.

FYI -- Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney for Charles Manson's murder trial.

[fdr_hst_fan]

15. Bugliosi is COOL!

[IrateCitizen]

7. Quite simply...

... that it drifted so far from the intent of the Founding Fathers over the years.

I fully realize that the Constitution was not meant to be a "static" document. But there were some specific items put into it for very specific reasons outlined by the FF's (i.e. warmaking powers). It was when we began to ignore their warnings in the pursuit of power and hegemony, that we began to see the problems arise that have come to fruition today.

[olddem43]

10. Campaign finance is the worst thing.

We need to outlaw PACs, corporate donations, organizational donations and limit individual donations to fairly small amounts.

[fdr_hst_fan]

16. AMEN TO THAT!

[Killarney]

11. I wish we were more secular.

Also, campaign finance. Our politicians will never be free of influence until all lobbyist and corporate contributions are gone.

[fdr_hst_fan]

17. We'll never be

secular as long as the Solid South Bible Belt has too much to say!

[Booster]

18. Campaign finance would be my #1 thing

because if there are people out there with great leadership skills as well as great ideas, they don't have a chance of getting into a significant position in government. I also don't have any ideas for this, but the IRS needs a little work. Between the rich, off-shore offices for corporations, and the poor, the middle class seems to be left with paying for everything. I paid $14,000 last year just because I sold a house; and I am certainly not rich. Of course, out-of-control spending by the government has a lot to do with this also. I am disgusted with the military (which ever group is was) that can't account for over a trillion dollars spent. WTF!

[sweetheart]

19. corporate personhood

This one has undermined the entire civil society.

The federal reserve system designed by a white racist and still today
dominated by white men who allocate credit (print money) based on
militarism and fossil fuels imperial thinking.

No constitutional right outlining equality of all peoples including
women, felons and non-americans.

The failure to create a purely secular state respecting religious
plurality, by the narrow inertia of the white racist supremecists.

Hmm.. even though it is not in the constitution, perhaps there should
be a clause against "empire"... it has gotten wholly out of hand.

the constitution needs a re-write to rearrange it from its newtonian
checks and balances (which have failed to prevent fascism)....
perhaps with more dynamic powers allocated towards a parliament
of a multiple party system able to take the evil government of today
to task for its crimes.

[Senior citizen]

21. Constitutional interpretation that does not

"establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility," or "promote the general Welfare." The preamble to the Constitution states quite clearly why it was established, yet except for poviding "for the common defence," everybody in government pretends the preamble doesn't exist and we really don't know what the writers intended.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. The election system. See inside for details on that.

[Cleita]

23. I agree on the electoral college. I would like to see it replaced

with a run-off popular voting system. Supreme Court justices aren't supposed to be able to appoint Presidents. Some legal eagles think that to do so is treason. Also, it's unconstitutional to go to war without Congress's approval except in cases of extreme danger, but since when does a little piece of paper like the Constitution matter in the last hundred years?

Other than the fact that government is still overwhelmingly white and male, I think you touched all points I would have made.