Inform the electorate about shit the government is doing
Suing the government in front of an unpolitical, independent court, up to an unpolitical, independent supreme court
Bargaining with the government on regular laws for whenever the government needs a 2/3 majority (e.g. for constitutional amendments, which should be a regular thing, not a once-in-a-lifetime event)
Running a shadow cabinet where each shadow minister is completely up-to-date to everything that happens so that in case the opposition wins the next election they can hit the ground running
Just to name a few things.
But since the USA doesn’t have unpolitical, independent courts and not even an unpolitical, independent supreme court, and constitutional amendments are exceedingly rare, the opposition is pretty worthless.
Just for reference: If you take out the zero-day fixes (all amendments that were passed within the first year) and the two amendments that cancel each other out (18 and 21), the USA has had 15 constitutional amendments. France had 15 full constitutional rewrites in the same time.
I think it is very important thing engaging the electorate when they are not in power and when it’s not election season. By both the government and opposition. And more importantly to do that neutral to reach all the electorate not their own voter base. I think that is what is missing form the US and it is increasing the divide between the left and right to the point the key identity (with pride) of each political party is that they aren’t the other one.
The US system is a hot broken mess. It’s 200 years outdated and nobody dared fixing it.
It’s literally a prototype of a democracy that people started to treat like a religion.
The constitutionally mandated two-party-system is perfect at dividing the nation and makes sure that cross-party coalitions aren’t a thing, thus voiding all need for any cooperation.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
From George Washington’s farewell address, 1796.
Basically, he was worried about ‘us vs them’ mentality that the two party system would bring as there was already a divide between the federalists and the democratic-republicans.
In a proper political system?
Just to name a few things.
But since the USA doesn’t have unpolitical, independent courts and not even an unpolitical, independent supreme court, and constitutional amendments are exceedingly rare, the opposition is pretty worthless.
Just for reference: If you take out the zero-day fixes (all amendments that were passed within the first year) and the two amendments that cancel each other out (18 and 21), the USA has had 15 constitutional amendments. France had 15 full constitutional rewrites in the same time.
This was what I meant opposition doing the job.
I think it is very important thing engaging the electorate when they are not in power and when it’s not election season. By both the government and opposition. And more importantly to do that neutral to reach all the electorate not their own voter base. I think that is what is missing form the US and it is increasing the divide between the left and right to the point the key identity (with pride) of each political party is that they aren’t the other one.
The US system is a hot broken mess. It’s 200 years outdated and nobody dared fixing it.
It’s literally a prototype of a democracy that people started to treat like a religion.
The constitutionally mandated two-party-system is perfect at dividing the nation and makes sure that cross-party coalitions aren’t a thing, thus voiding all need for any cooperation.
From George Washington’s farewell address, 1796.
Basically, he was worried about ‘us vs them’ mentality that the two party system would bring as there was already a divide between the federalists and the democratic-republicans.
Yeah, it was a problem from day 1, but they did jack all to fix it.
Probably because changing a system usually doesn’t benefit those who got into power via the old system.