The flexibility and strength of the US political system

Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 4, 2016 at 03:16

Hello, Ann

I wouldn't describe the US political system as "rigid"; and the current election actually proves that. Until Ted Cruz dropped out of the race today, we had four candidates in the two parties, each representing very different worldviews and philosophies of government. Trump and Clinton are, essentially, "Centrist" candidates, opposed by two very polarizing factions in the form of the Republican Neoconservatives and the Democrat Socialists. The past eight years have seen the two most extreme factions in government, which is why there was so much gridlock on Capitol Hill and confusion in the Administration.

The late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia remarked, shortly before his death, that there is not another system in the world with as many effective checks and balances built into it as the US Government; and note that we have outlived every other representative democracy. Others, such as Switzerland and the UK, were completely overhauled in the 19th Century; and some, such as France and Germany, suffered numerous collapses and reformations. Scalia noted that we are the only such democracy with a truly bicameral legislature, with two equally powerful bodies; and I will add that no other government has such a time-validated method of reshaping its constitution without sacrificing its essential character.

I am bragging, of course; but with some merit.

Shalom shalom :-)

PS. Our two-party system has been in place since 1856, when the Republicans replaced the Whigs as the chief opposition party. Every election, from that time forward, was won by either a Democrat or a Republican, yet diverse voices have been heard: from abolitionists, to industrialists, to industrial unions, to socialists, to greens, to libertarians.

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