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Returning to the US parallel. For Fidesz's two-thirds majority, the key as winning almost every one of the single-member election districts in Hungary's mixed election system. In the US first-past-the-post system, a supermajority in a single election is possible with even smaller majorities. However, it would need the end of the bipartisan system for the situation to arise: either one party would have to alienate the majority of its voters enough to stay away from the vote (as more or less happened in Hungary) or split in two equally strong parts with weak geographical correlation and divide votes (somewhat similarly to the way Thatcher got her crushing election victory while Labour and the SDP-Liberal alliance split votes). Due to the non-simultaneous Senate and gubernatoral elections, most of the time, this situation would have to hold for two years for the other major party to win the supermajority in all three Constitution-relevant bodies. However, checking the current list, I see the half of the currently 20 Democrat governors are up for re-election (or replacement) in 2015. So would there be no shift favouring the Democrats until then and would the above charted extraordinary situation arise in 2014, the Republicans would have the opportunity to gain all the supermajorities in one year, even without winning over a single new swing voter.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Jan 9th, 2012 at 09:34:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Amongst US states only Nebraska has a unicameral legislative body and all, I believe, have three independent branches - legislative, executive and judicial - generally mirroring the federal structure. In addition, all powers not specifically granted to the federal government are retained by the states. This preference for separation of powers, even in layers, goes back to the formulation of the constitution in the 18th century and draws on Montesquieu's Esprit des Lois, Livy and Aristotle as well as the history of every republic known to the founders.

I have often chaffed at the difficulty of getting any change enacted, but the constitutional system has stood up pretty well and I shudder to think what a new US constitutional convention would devise. In the USA, instead of rewriting the constitution the financiers simply bought most of the significant players in the system. As Montesquieu noted long ago any system will work when run by virtuous men while no system will withstand being overrun by evil men, or to that general effect.    

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Jan 9th, 2012 at 12:54:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think it was Mills who also adopted that argument and proposed a proportional system which would reduce the risk of state seizure by private interests. But as Berlusconi has shown the proportional system can be gamed also.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Mon Jan 9th, 2012 at 01:03:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
On the other hand, the fact that real estate law has, since before the Constitutional Convention, been state law has made it very difficult for the financiers and their minions to totally obstruct justice regarding the criminal behavior regarding foreclosures and disregard of state law on conveyance of title. A few state Attorneys General can threaten the entire Mortgage Backed Securities business, which is enough to blow up the existing financial system. It turns out that the power to enforce the law is also the power to destroy.  

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Jan 9th, 2012 at 01:14:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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