Every democracy on the planet relies on coalitions to get anything done and reach a 51% governing majority to pass legislation.ohio jones wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 10:07 am This is why a multiple-party system (at least half a dozen parties) would be preferable. If no one party has a reasonable chance of having a majority, it becomes obviously necessary to build coalitions to get anything done. A near 50-50 split results in congress rather than progress, and a large majority gives too much power to one party.
Here in the US the coalition-building happens WITHIN the parties. Democrats form coalitions between different interests such as labor, civil rights activists, environmentalists, etc. While Republicans form coalitions between evangelicals, business interests, and libertarian types. And those coalitions mostly emerge during the primaries.
In parliamentary systems the parties are smaller and more pure. You have labor parties, green parties, conservative Christian-Democrat parties, and right-wing parties. And then the governing coalitions get formed AFTER everyone is done voting.
It is just two different ways of getting to 51% I'm not sure that one is better than the other. Our system in the US is arguably more democratic in that it brings the coalition-building closer to the people who are voting. I'm not sure that parliamentary systems are necessarily more stable. Some of them are constantly going through leadership crises and government after government.
What is going on in the House is something different. Back in when the GOP retook the house they stupidly agreed to organizing rules that let just one member challenge the speaker and bring a speakership challenge to a vote at any time. That was how McCarthy was tossed out. When there is a tiny majority such a system gives immense power to a few firebrands who have the ability to pull the plug at any moment. When Democrats held power with a similarly slim majority under Pelosi from 2020-2022 they had no such rules and there was no way for any radical Dem to upset the apple cart. They would have required a majority vote to reconsider Pelosi's speakership, not just the single vote of one member.
In any event, there is nothing stopping Johnson from ignoring his flame-throwing fringe and forming a governing majority with some centrist Democrats. They don't want to do that because Johnson is himself from the right-wing fringe and forming a coalition with centrist Democrats would mean coming to some compromise and giving something up. Which they have no interest in doing. Plus doing so would open them all up to primary challenges since most of their districts are not competitive.
