Display:
Oh, such defeatist Euro-thinking!  Lol.  Sorry.  Seriously, why can't you have Europe-wide direct elections?  I bet that'd solve all your Constitution problems.  A Europe-wide, direct, popular vote.  Do it.  Also, it's soooo European of people to see everything in terms of pandemonium or civility.  Behaving civilized isn't an indicator of fairness.  So bring on the horror/fairness that is a direct election.  Lose the obsession with everyone behaving appropriately and embrace the madness which all politics are under their facade. :)

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 02:45:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
There are direct elections to the European Parliament next June!  At present there are over forty parties in 8 Groups so you are spoiled or choice even if you can only vote for those candidates/parliaments standing in your constituency.

As for civility, it's not an issue.  There's plenty of controversy.  What we don't have is 100 of Millions of Euros of private money being used to fund campaigns and lobby groups which are so influential because of their access to money/media.

Also the registration, voting and vote counting processes tend not to be controlled by partisan/commercial interests so their is more confidence in the process.  So if not having an electoral system which is quite as corrupted as the US system is to be defeatist, I'm quite happy to be a regarded as a loser!

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 03:00:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What we don't have is 100 of Millions of Euros of private money ...

I mentioned it in a Salon de News Thread, but I thought it might be appropriate to mention it here again:


Irish 'No' vote architect plans Europe-wide 'referendum' on Lisbon Treaty

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Ganley disclosed that he was starting to raise £75 million from online donations to run candidates in all 12 of Britain's European Parliament constituencies, and in seats throughout the EU.

by rz on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 at 10:41:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yep - he's importing US methods (and interests) into the EU polity - we need better disclosure laws and contribution limits to stop the subversion of our democracies by corporate and foreign interests

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 at 11:04:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"subversion" should be "further subversion".
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 at 11:08:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Presidential elections - whether direct or semi-direct are by necessity First Past the Post elections. Judging by the US and UK, FPtP elections seem to do Bad Things to your political culture.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 at 10:10:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series