us elections

[Micheal Ellis]

>
>>
>>At 9:45 PM -0700 6/8/02, Dennis Robert Redmond wrote:
>>
>> >The US political system is fundamentally hostile to second parties.
>
>To second parties? You mean third parties.
>
>The
>> >first-past-the-post system, which only the UK continues to use, ensures
>> >that you get monopolies -- the 51% rule,
>
>Well, that's not a monopoly.
>
>the 49% get turned off from
>> >politics, etc.
>
>How come voting is so much higher in lots of two party systems that are 
>hostile to third parties, like most of Europe? Maybe it's a social rather 
>than a political feature: you have active independent strong union movements 
>with labor parties that offer people a wider range of real choice.
>
>We need a parliamentary system run by proportional
>> >representation, where a vote for a small party equals a seat in a
>> >legislature.
>

the only thing i can say about elactions is that if this were a functioning
democracy the national anthem would have been changed to Nazerths
'Hair of the Dog' a long time ago.......

~M.E.