Text 21510, 49 rader
Skriven 2008-10-02 14:04:26 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 21400 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: Things Change
=====================
01 Oct 08 20:00, David Drummond wrote to Roy Witt:

 DD>>> Hmmm - I don't think I understand your political/voting system.
 DD>>> Here one votes for whatever politician one wants to have the job.

 RW>> That's how it is here, if you register to vote and don't claim a
 RW>> party affiliation. However, you won't be able to vote in the
 RW>> primaries for members that are running to be the party candidate in
 RW>> the final election.

 DD> Ah - here the parties decide who they will stand for a given
 DD> electorate.

Which is where a democracy differs. Here the people choose who will stand.

 DD>  If that person gets enough of the vote, he (or she) and
 DD> his/her party get to rule that electorate. Not sure that the member
 DD> on the street gets much say though.

It doesn't sound like it.

 DD> If a party gets enough seats in government, that party's leader
 DD> becomes the country's leader.

This is why we have three branches of government. Executive, Legislative
(2) and Judicial. The first two are all elected by the people, the latter
appointed by the Executive, which must then be approved by the Legislative
branches.

 DD> While an independents can stand for an electorate, and can indeed win
 DD> that seat, an independent can never be Prime Minister.

We usually have a couple of independents running for President. We also
have a few in the Legislative branch too.

 DD> Independents can often hold the balance of power within parliamentary
 DD> votes however - as can minor parties.

You may have heard of Ross Perot. He was an independent running for
President when Clinton and Bush 1 were sparing for the office in 1992.
Perot won nearly 19% of the popular vote, more than any independent
before. He actually won two states over Bush and Clinton.

                R\%/itt



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