Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) will lose even more votes when a third vote is held on whether to make him the next speaker of the House. Jordan whiffed in his second attempt on Wednesday when he received one vote fewer than on the first ballot on Tuesday. He was more
This isn’t necessarily the fault of FPTP. If anything, proper parliaments are generally even more unstable, since a governing coalition involves a lot more distinct interests cooperating. The last Israeli government, for instance, collapsed after a single member abandoned the coalition. You also have situations where one of the coalition parties withdraws.
The primary difference between Congress and parliaments is at what point the coalitions form. In modern parliaments, many different ideological groups all run their own independent elections to gain seats in parliament, and then complex negotiations occur to form a majority coalition that establishes the government and opposition groups. In Congress, that coalition building happens before elections ever occur. You still have a bunch of distinct ideological groups, but they’ve already sorted themselves into two broad coalitions, the Democrats and the Republicans. That’s why each party has a lot more ideological diversity within it than European parties.
What’s been so interesting about this is that it’s essentially Congress devolving into a parliament, which is fun for political nerds and for people who enjoy watching Republicans suffer.
This isn’t necessarily the fault of FPTP. If anything, proper parliaments are generally even more unstable, since a governing coalition involves a lot more distinct interests cooperating. The last Israeli government, for instance, collapsed after a single member abandoned the coalition. You also have situations where one of the coalition parties withdraws.
The primary difference between Congress and parliaments is at what point the coalitions form. In modern parliaments, many different ideological groups all run their own independent elections to gain seats in parliament, and then complex negotiations occur to form a majority coalition that establishes the government and opposition groups. In Congress, that coalition building happens before elections ever occur. You still have a bunch of distinct ideological groups, but they’ve already sorted themselves into two broad coalitions, the Democrats and the Republicans. That’s why each party has a lot more ideological diversity within it than European parties.
What’s been so interesting about this is that it’s essentially Congress devolving into a parliament, which is fun for political nerds and for people who enjoy watching Republicans suffer.