Text 3671, 103 rader
Skriven 2010-01-25 18:07:11 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
   Kommentar till text 3587 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Fox stoops even lower
=============================
24 Jan 10 15:39, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Roy Witt:

 MvdV>>> Actually I was referring to the system of presidential
 MvdV>>> elections. In the US, the people elect a president.

 RW>> Wrong. The Electoral College elects the President.

 MvdV> Semantics. What I see is people casting their votes. In a black box
 MvdV> it goes and out comes a winner, who then becomes president.

You ARE blind! What you see are people casting their votes, alright. But
in reality, they're voting for representatives to the Electoral College.
The Electoral College casts the votes for the President and they aren't
obligated to cast their votes for the candidate the people voted for,
although almost all of them do.

 MvdV> What happens in the black box is local US folklore and only of
 MvdV> interest to those interested in US local folklore.

See above.

 MvdV>>> The president forms a government

 RW>> Wrong.

 MvdV> That is how it is perceived from here.

I'll bet it does, for a blind man.

 MvdV>>>   which then is a one party government.

 RW>> Wrong.

 MvdV> That is how it is perceived from here.

I'll bet it does, for a blind man.

 MvdV>>> If I understand it correctly, the entire white house staff is
 MvdV>>> replaced

 RW>> Yes. Although the President can, and has been known to, keep some of
 RW>> the previous President's administrative cabinent members.

 MvdV> That is the exception that confirm the rule.

Wrong. That isn't the rule, just an exception that happens once in a blue
moon...(not literally)

 MvdV>>>  as well with a party change. Winner takes all.

 RW>> Wrong.

 MvdV> The president and only the president selects his aids.

His Cabinent.

 MvdV> That I call a "winner takes all" system,

I'll bet it does, for a blind man. The President selects his cabinent
members who work at the White House. The President and his cabinent form
the 'executive' part of the government.

They do not have the power over the Senate or the House of
Representatives, nor do they have power over the Judicial system.

The Senate and House make the laws and the Judicial system uses those laws
in the civil and criminal court system. Which laws only apply to
the Federal judicial system and not State laws.

Here's a good example of how it works. A while ago, Doosche threatened to
sue the Z1C over something that I did in FN_SYSOP. He tried to use a
Montana Supreme Court decision to sway the Z1C to see it his way. That
tactic blew up in his face when the Z1C rightly informed him that Montana
law, even a decision of the Montana Supreme Court, has no jurisdiction
outside of the state of Montana.

 MvdV> because it is in contrast to what usuallly happens in Europe where
 MvdV> there is always a coalition,

Whereas in the US, there is no coalition. The Senate and the House are run
by the majority party, either Democrats or Republicans (there used to be
a Whig party that once was a majority). The minority still has a voice, as
long as the majority doesn't have a filibuster-proof majority. i.e. 60
votes in the Senate can pass a bill (law) that the minority party cannot
stop. Had it not been for the recent election of a Republican in
Massachusetts, the health bill, as bad as it is, would have been a done
deal last week, but now it's a dead deal as the Republicans, still a
minority but now with 41 votes, makes a filibuster possible.

 MvdV> and so it is not one man who decides who gets what position, but it
 MvdV> is a matter of negotiation and compromise.

Only in the President's cabinet, aka, those who don't have much say-so in
American politics, law making or court rulings. The exceptions would be
people like the Secretary of State, Secretary of War and the head of the
CIA, and all of the others who work for the President.


                R\%/itt

    You can put lipstick on a pig, but the pig still stinks!
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