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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
Sat Oct 5, 2013, 10:06 PM Oct 2013

Political scientist predicted that the American system of government was unstable and would collapse [View all]

The Shutdown Prophet
Washington couldn’t have gone dark without a radicalized Republican Party. Or maybe it was destined to all along.
By Jonathan Chait

In a merciful twist of fate, Juan Linz did not quite live to see his prophecy of the demise of American democracy borne out. Linz, the Spanish political scientist who died last week, argued that the presidential system, with its separate elections for legislature and chief executive, was inherently unstable. In a famous 1990 essay, Linz observed, “All such systems are based on dual democratic legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two actually represents the will of the people.” Presidential systems veered ultimately toward collapse everywhere they were tried, as legislators and executives vied for supremacy. There was only one notable exception: the United States of America.

<...>

Instead, to the slowly unfolding horror of the Obama administration and even some segments of the Republican Party, the GOP decided that the alternative to finding common ground with the president did not have to be mere gridlock. It could force the president to enact its agenda. In January, Boehner told his colleagues he’d abandon all policy negotiations with the White House. Later that spring, House Republicans extended the freeze-out to the Democratic-­majority Senate, which has since issued (as of press time) eighteen futile pleas for budget negotiations. Their plan has been to carry out their agenda by using what they call “leverage” or “forcing events” to threaten economic and social harm and thereby extract concessions from President Obama without needing to make any policy concessions in return. Paul Ryan offered the most candid admission of his party’s determined use of non-electoral power: “The reason this debt-limit fight is different is we don’t have an election around the corner where we feel we are going to win and fix it ourselves,” he said at the end of September. “We are stuck with this government another three years.”

<..>


How to settle this dispute? Here is where Linz’s analysis rings chillingly true: “There is no democratic principle on the basis of which it can be resolved, and the mechanisms the Constitution might provide are likely to prove too complicated and aridly legalistic to be of much force in the eyes of the electorate.” This is a fight with no rules. The power struggle will be resolved as a pure contest of willpower.


http://nymag.com/news/politics/nationalinterest/government-shutdown-2013-10/
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Thank you. I was unaware of Linz, and this Jackpine Radical Oct 2013 #1
When Reason And Politics Fail - Terrorism Prevails cantbeserious Oct 2013 #2
Wow. K&R nt riderinthestorm Oct 2013 #3
One good reform would be a national standard for redistricting bhikkhu Oct 2013 #4
Nah, it would actually be S A D Benton D Struckcheon Oct 2013 #5
Smart people have been known to be ridiculously wrong Pretzel_Warrior Oct 2013 #6
The parliamentary system has one huge advantage Cali_Democrat Oct 2013 #8
True, but that can also be a disadvantage Pretzel_Warrior Oct 2013 #10
Yes. It can be very unstable -- as in Greece. JDPriestly Oct 2013 #20
Which doesn't help much if no one party wins a majority Kaleva Oct 2013 #11
Parliamentary systems have minor flaws compared to presidential systems starroute Oct 2013 #14
Sad but true. JDPriestly Oct 2013 #21
Rereading my own post, I think the question of legitimate authority explains a lot starroute Oct 2013 #26
+1. n/t Laelth Oct 2013 #31
I like your sig bumper sticker tavalon Oct 2013 #27
For a long period of our nation's history, a minority ruled this nation. Kaleva Oct 2013 #40
This is why Obama must stand strong... Barack_America Oct 2013 #7
If they balk on the debt limit AAO Oct 2013 #16
I agree with the characterization of the Constitution. randome Oct 2013 #9
somebody had to say it Chaco Dundee Oct 2013 #15
I couldn't disagree more. Octafish Oct 2013 #34
No it has terminal functional problems. Warren Stupidity Oct 2013 #38
No. You're wrong. Octafish Oct 2013 #41
Stable governments alternate between an oligarchy and an emperor FarCenter Oct 2013 #12
As we once were tavalon Oct 2013 #28
Agreed, in principle. Laelth Oct 2013 #32
Fuck that, its basic greed on behalf of the GOP! Rebellious Republican Oct 2013 #13
thank you, Cali Cha Oct 2013 #17
Moderate Republicans in the House can change this situation right away. JDPriestly Oct 2013 #18
My answer to your question. Laelth Oct 2013 #35
This would work until the mid-terms I would guess. cui bono Oct 2013 #43
Powerful read. K&R nt riderinthestorm Oct 2013 #19
And this is no small country... defacto7 Oct 2013 #22
Powerful final sentences!! young_at_heart Oct 2013 #23
+1. n/t Laelth Oct 2013 #36
"The power struggle will be resolved as a pure contest of willpower." Jim Warren Oct 2013 #24
And public shaming tavalon Oct 2013 #25
If we fail, it won't be due to a power struggle between branches ThoughtCriminal Oct 2013 #29
Interesting. Thanks for posting. k&r n/t Laelth Oct 2013 #30
He might have been right if the US had a democracy, we don't. bahrbearian Oct 2013 #33
One that might do Mussolini proud except for the trains and planes that do no run/fly indepat Oct 2013 #45
the 14th amendment. Obama can pull that out, can he not? magical thyme Oct 2013 #37
How many parliamentary systems were actually stable? Progressive dog Oct 2013 #39
K&R oxymoron Oct 2013 #42
May the President exert such forceful willpower that Rethuglicans go crawling back to their states/ indepat Oct 2013 #44
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