Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: NYT: "Cancel the Midterms". Do you agree? [View all]Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)29. A small party can threaten, they won't get anywhere
you clearly don't know much about how parliamentary systems work; there hasn't been a successful vote of no confidence against a sitting goverment in the UK since 1979; before that, there hadn't been one since 1924, and the impact of smaller parties in the Westminster system is relatively negligible; how effective have the Liberal Democrats been? (The answer to that is "not at all", and going into coalition with the Tories has wrecked their electoral chances for a generation...there are quite a lot of people who never would have voted for the Lib Dems in 2010 if they'd known they'd be getting a Tory government out of it).
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
41 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
Two years keeps congressional representatives tuned into what their constituents want.
badtoworse
Nov 2014
#2
The volatility is a good thing. The last thing we need is a system designed for ossification and the
Nuclear Unicorn
Nov 2014
#5
If you 'cancel the midterms,' the 233 republican majority in the House stays in place until 2018!
BP2
Nov 2014
#10
Amend the Constitution and set the terms of Congress and President to four or six years, whichever.
Spider Jerusalem
Nov 2014
#12
In any parliamentary system, a small party can threaten to bring down the government,
Nye Bevan
Nov 2014
#20
Gridlock and very slow change were considered a feature, not a bug, in our system.
branford
Nov 2014
#28
If the President has to resort to repeated vetoes for the last two years of his Presidency, he ...
dawg
Nov 2014
#35
Well, it's all fun and games and checks and balances until we actually default on something.
dawg
Nov 2014
#41
I'm not sure that it's that "wacky". Two years is a very short term for congressmen.
Nye Bevan
Nov 2014
#23