So my discussion topic of the day is what kind of political system do our non-US members' countries have:

1. What kind of political system, democratic or other? direct election of candidates or voting by party? and how many parties?

2. who pays for the campaigns/commercials/speaking engagements etc.? federally funded or public contributions?

3. comments and critiques of your country's system

oh yeah, and what country? ;)

To start things off, I'll elaborate on the US model of democracy, which is a 2 party system with direct election of candidates.

All campaign activities are funded predominantly by public contribution. There are small amounts that are federally funded (partially from public funding collected with taxes) on an equal basis (presuming the party got at least 5% of the vote during the last election).

The US approach polarizes the citizenry by only allowing (for all intense purposes) two political views into the mainstream. All other views tend to get pushed out by the combination of the parties (and their political wealth and capital), the system and the media. In all fairness, this country was created with differing viewpoints in mind and we've managed to kill that politically.

Also campaign financing leaves too much power to the wealthier contributors, ie. corporations and their lobbyists. One congressman had said one of the major changes in terms of legislation over the past few decades is that in the past the lobbyists always had interests that they were pushing and they'd make "suggestions" to congressman, nowadays they're actually writing the legislation that's being passed, ie. bankruptcy bill passed a few years back was practically all handwritten by the banking industry and the results show. :(

now yours...

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,in bulgaria we push donkey down hill and vote conservative if he die. he died last time and me not like what happening today..

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Belgicum

Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy with direct election of candidates. As a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities. Don't worry about this: even we don't understand what is what sometimes...

Since we have a French speaking and a Dutch speaking community, we have nearly each party in two versions. So in other words, there are for example two socialist parties, both socialist, but they work independantly from each other.

Parties in Belgium:

• Liberals (that's not liberal in the US sense of the word)
• Socialists
• Christian-Democrats
• Nationalists (extreme right)
• Green party

Election campaigns are funded by the parties themselves who get their funds from a dotation of the state. No private interference.

My main critique is to be found in the first paragraph. Plus imo the federal government still has too many powers in comparisson to the regions. It's maybe a bit generalizing to say, but Flanders has a healthy economy while the Walony hasn't invested in innovation a lot, but holds on to obsolete production industry like steel mills.

Other critique: since we always have coalitions (last term liberal/socialist/green, now liberal/socialist), Belgium is a country of compromises. Decisions are pretty hard to take and often promises and plans have to be weakened down a lot because of the influence of the coalition partner and/or the trade unions which have too much power here if you ask me (but hey, I'm a liberal so I don't like trade unions, hehe)

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so how is the liberal party different than American liberals, aside from being against labor unions?

What do they stand for?

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^^^ Freedom of the individual Limitation of powers (state/religion/...) Free market economy and private initiative Empowerment and responsability (of the individual) Equal opportunity

The way I understood it the American liberals are more leaning towards libertarians, no?

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that explanation best desribes what the republican party was like before they got OWNED by bill clinton.

american liberals want thier hands in everything, dont mind taxing to get it, and IMHO, over provide people in certain areas, and not enough in others, they fund evvery special interest group and usually , in regards to law making, make a law to allow a few people to do something that pisses others off, in non-governmental ways, more to citizen relations, they are also lax on crime and arent pro union, but pro union power.

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now, this is the republican party [IMG]http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9158/nagshead004gu9.jpg[/IMG]

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^Priceless.

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Wikipedia describes our system of government as follows:

[quote]Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates under the parliamentary system. [/quote]In Israel we use a proportional representation system for electing the 120 members of the Knesset.

Whilst the same system has been in-place since the founding of the state we did tinker with it slightly a few years ago with the direct election of the Prime Minister, but after one election that was scrapped.

I lost count how many parties stood for election last time round, thats one of the problems with a PR system; but the threshold for being elected to the Knesset was 2%. 12 parties currently sit in the knesset.

Parties that sit in the knesset receive funding from the government, additionally parties can raise money through subscriptions and fundraising.

There are many things one can say about our system of government. In the plus column it could be argued that its the most democratic representation of one person one vote as every vote counts. On the negitive side, it creates at times unstable government. Running a government by coalition can be a dangerous thing as each parties wims have to be met to keep the coalition stable.

Israel also has a President, which is a ceremonial role, eleced by members of the knesset every 5 years. Our present President is a disgrace to the office he holds and should be kicked out - but thats just my opinion. Until now the President has been chosen from either the Labor or Likud (or their many previous incarnations).

Questions?

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[quote=Lorn;400839]^Priceless.[/quote]

i tend to wear great halloween costumes. the more offensive, the funnier.

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[quote=thesightless;400811]now, this is the republican party [IMG]http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9158/nagshead004gu9.jpg[/IMG][/quote]cut down a bit on the guiness and work out more seaner, before you know it you've got a third chin ;)

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yeah, i dont know why i have a double chin in every pic...... i lost about 20 pounds inthe last 3 months. and my friends tell me i always look fat in pics.

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[QUOTE=davetlv;400902]Israel also has a President, which is a ceremonial role, eleced by members of the knesset every 5 years. Our present President is a disgrace to the office he holds and should be kicked out - but thats just my opinion. Until now the President has been chosen from either the Labor or Likud (or their many previous incarnations).

Questions?[/QUOTE] I'd ask questions if I had any, but I'm quite familiar with politics and government in your country ;)

As for the president, I wouldn't say that's just your opinion...after the crap he pulled, they should've booted him already

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[quote=rubyraks;401228]

As for the president, I wouldn't say that's just your opinion...after the crap he pulled, they should've booted him already[/quote]

Maybe, but there is a fishy smell to all this 'crap' - and no matter how hard i try i still find myself believing in the concept of innocent until proven guilty . . . . . . i guess we'll have to wait for the court case(s)!!!!!

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[QUOTE=davetlv;401279]Maybe, but there is a fishy smell to all this 'crap' - and no matter how hard i try i still find myself believing in the concept of innocent until proven guilty . . . . . . i guess we'll have to wait for the court case(s)!!!!![/QUOTE] is that so? I was under the impression that the matter had hit the point of an open and shut case, but perhaps I heard wrong...

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[quote=rubyraks;401292]is that so? I was under the impression that the matter had hit the point of an open and shut case, but perhaps I heard wrong...[/quote]

Ben, is anything ever as simple as an open and shut case in this country? :lol: :lol: :lol:

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[QUOTE=davetlv;401337]Ben, is anything ever as simple as an open and shut case in this country? :lol: :lol: :lol:[/QUOTE] a bunch of jews not argue something out til the very end and then some? nope never happens ;) :lol:

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One more day.

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[QUOTE=Lorn;402667]One more day.[/QUOTE]

Word. I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. I'm just so hoping things come together as they should -- I remember that sick feeling from November 3, 2004, when I realized that we were going to be stuck with Bush again.

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hehe...sick feeling indeed. But I get that every election. We are stuck with all these pigs.

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Now go vote you damn frellin people.

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[QUOTE=toasty;402681]I remember that sick feeling from November 3, 2004, when I realized that we were going to be stuck with Bush again.[/QUOTE] Have you ever been able to get rid of that feeling...it just gets worse and worse with every day :(

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wow, chris garvey got a lot of print today and even was being talked on IMUS and CNN this morning. go chris. you deserve the post as you care about the law, and are more worthy than either chump.

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[quote=rubyraks;403524]Have you ever been able to get rid of that feeling...it just gets worse and worse with every day :([/quote] imagine if the right half, i wont even go ''wing'' as that implicates those on the far side of center, well imagine if we really pissed them off and they all got out and voted and the democrats actually lost seats... wow.

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[QUOTE=rubyraks;403524]Have you ever been able to get rid of that feeling...it just gets worse and worse with every day :([/QUOTE]

it subsided some as the pain just became a constant dull ache, but still there.

I feel pretty good about things today, though. It's pretty dreary in St. Louis today, but my polling place was very lively this morning. One thing that was good to see is that there were folks outside of the polls suggesting that people opt for paper ballots rather than using the electronic ballots. This is great because there were only like 6 electronic voting machines there, but because most people were using paper ballots, there was virtually no wait to vote. If I didn't know I could just do a paper ballot, I suspect I would have been there for a long time and none too happy about it -- I'd stick it out, but long lines are a serious impediment to voter turnout. St. Louis City is heavily democratic, so good turnout is bad news for Jim Talent.

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They really need to get some younger people at the polling places to volunteer. Not to rag on old people, but, i'm going to rag on old people...some of them take election volunteering way too seriously, and beyond that, i don't think they're too up to speed with life to make the voting process as smooth as it should be. And fao the asshole right outside the voting location yelling, "VOTE NO ON 2, NO ON 2, NO ON 2..." i honestly contemplated getting in to a verbal argument with the guy right there on the steps- fucking religious assholes. If 2 fails, i'm really going to be bent out of shape.

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wat is no 2 in the lou"?

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[quote=thesightless;403578]wat is no 2 in the lou"?[/quote]

[url]http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33920&page=2[/url]

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i hope that passes. we wont know the downfalls unless we try and i dont think the downfall will be a rip in the fabric of reality, so we should try. saying goodbye to cancer and alzheimers and parkinsons wont be bad thing.

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[QUOTE=thesightless;403541]imagine if the right half, i wont even go ''wing'' as that implicates those on the far side of center, well imagine if we really pissed them off and they all got out and voted and the democrats actually lost seats... wow.[/QUOTE] I'm actually kinda rooting for that...

If the republicans hold on to Congress, then come 2008 they can't blame anyone other than themselves for the clusterfuck that is Iraq and truthfully that situation is so screwed up that it wouldn't be fair for the democrats to clean up that republican mess. That republican congress just passed law after law without ever asking any questions of their president and that's what got us into this mess in the first place. Let them play in their own mud for a few more years...then in 2008, we'll wash em all out at once ;)

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Well I'm off to my voting place which I hear it's an absolute zoo (that's a really, REALLY good thing since I live in the inner city). If all goes well there won't be a dickhead "if you don't vote for me you're unpatriotic" republican left in office at the end of the day here in Ohio. Apparently the state is expecting the largest non-presidential election turnout ever....

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^I wish your state could've done that during the last election :roll: ;)

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Already reading voting machines are crashing in Ohio. Wtf is wrong with Ohio? Get it together man.

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^^ hey man, if you haven't already voted, consider just asking for a paper ballot. You'll likely get in and out faster, and there's a paper trail. At my polling place, which was a high school gym, there were people all over the place filling out their ballots on benches, leaning up against the wall, whatever. Much better than waiting for one of the handful of electronic machines they have...

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was reading some of the comments from voters and this one cracked me up:

[quote] "Normally, I vote Republican. But I have issues with the war," said John Mayer, 58, a police officer from East Williston, N.Y. He would be voting Democratic for governor of New York, but would vote for whoever was running against Hillary Clinton. "I don't even know the other guy's name," Mayer said, referring to former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer. "I don't like Hillary," he explained.[/quote]

:lol: doesn't even know the other guys name. haha.

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just got back, all was well here in long island polls. one candidate was taken away by police though. some family court candidate from the democratix side. she was screaming about how the repubican and independent candidates were evil.... family court no less.

turnout was nice, but i wanted to punch this one old guy who was saying the most racist shit b/c one of the volunteers had a thick accent and he wanted ''an american who could be understood'' asshole... i was literally two seconds from standing up and pucnhing a geriatric. no one has the right to say what he was saying to that man..

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[quote=thesightless;403674]just got back, all was well here in long island polls. one candidate was taken away by police though. some family court candidate from the democratix side. she was screaming about how the repubican and independent candidates were evil.... family court no less.

[/quote]

Are you serious?

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[quote=thesightless;403674] no one has the right to say what he was saying to that man..[/quote]

actually the first amendment gives everyone that right. ;)

what's sucks is, you do NOT have the right to sock that fella in the face for saying that kind of stuff. if i was a cop tho, i'd probably turn a blind eye while you pummeled that fella for a bit.

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no no no

you need the conservative presence in congress. if it disappears, say goodbye to a lot of things . balance and independence over any party.

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if that post is a reply to mine, it makes zero sense.

"no no no" what?