Reply #197: In Norway, only one party is Prime Minister [View All]

[TechBear_Seattle]

If you wish to draw comparisons between the government systems of the United States and Norway, start by drawing valid comparisons. There is absolutely no reason why the two houses of Congress -- that would be our equivalent to your Parliament -- could not be multi-party.

Also, please note that the people do not elect the President; the states do. The popular vote in a given state only directs that state on how to cast its electoral votes. The Framers of our Constitution clearly expected it to be rare for a candidate for President to receive a majority of votes on the first ballot. In that situation, the election passes out of the hands of the states to the members of the House of Representatives, making the election of the President almost the same as the election of a Prime Minister.

For various historical reasons, however, our country developed a Two Party system rather than a multi-party one. While this has made the US government more stable than most Parliamentary governments, it has also eliminated voter choice and allowed what are ostensibly two different political organizations to merge into two wings of a single Two Party aimed at a perceived "middle America." This has left a great many potential voters feeling disenfranchised, which is why the United States has the lowest voter turnout, by far, of any First World democracy.

Those who truly believe in democracy should not ridicule or deride efforts to get those non-voters involved, because the major parties certainly don't give a rat's ass about them.