Is our 2 party system just a con?

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Abbott was a Pommie loyalist. I don't think any true Traditional Aussie took any notice of him. If you're not Aussie, you won't get anywhere.

[facthunter]

He actually said people would watch PORN.. It would have permitted surgery to be Performed remotely and bring us to a First world system of  Fast Fibre-optic Connectivity.. What an outright CRETIN. Nev

[octave]

1 minute ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

If you're not Aussie, you won't get anywhere.

I am not sure what you mean by this. Care to expand on it?

[nomadpete]

Wille,  fair point about the constitution. 

 

I am looking from the perspective of how the system seems to work now. 

The average punters probably don't know half the names of candidates. That's why they vote above the line. Which is basically voting for their preferred party. 

 

The problem that I see is a fundamental one.

 

If one person is going to get the top job, they expect it to give the top power along with the top responsibility. Which practically invites the most ruthless dictator. Given absolute power they could quickly bring about many good things for their people. But then human nature kicks in, along with a dose of sociopathy.

 

In an attempt to moderate this kind of highly successful person, we put layers of politicions around the boss, to hamstring their more grandios selfserving plans. 

This is because in real life, dictators are never benevolent.

 

There is no perfect system. But we are not doing too badly.

[octave]

A strength of our system is the fact that the PM can be ditched by the party.  There are many examples in recent history where PMs have been ditched (Gorton, Hawke, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull). Whilst people may find this annoying, it is much better than the US system. Republicans know that Trump is a disaster and will cost them at the midterms, but there is nothing they can do about it.

[nomadpete]

5 hours ago, old man emu said:

No. What I meant was that a strong Opposition makes for a strong government. You can see that at the moment in the USA. The Democrats are not a strong opposition, so the Republicans are running riot.

I agree about the USA. (And lib/nat impotence)

But an opposition party must have some power to be assertive. Otherwise they are just background noise. Therefore even though unelected, and cannot pass legislation, they become an active part of government. Mix that with an opposition party's mandate to oppose, they actually generally hamper the elected party. 

Which brings the whole mob back to being like herding cats.

[nomadpete]

2 minutes ago, octave said:

Republicans know that Trump is a disaster and will cost them at the midterms, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Well, they can impeach.

[facthunter]

We are Not doing too badly, if you add it all up.. Albo only has the Power the Labor party will allow him to exert.The LEADER so called MUST adhere to Party Policy. Labor is acting pretty much as a team with little internal discord except with the larger Numbers not as many as would like get to Keep their Portfolios. Dreyfus and Husic Lost theirs. Ed Husic, a Muslim, was a worthy performer. I'm sorry to see him not there. Nev

[facthunter]

Not easy to impeach or bring Trump to obey the law. He's stacked most of the Courts and makes life hard for those who Dare to speak against him. He acts like a thuggish MAFIA Boss. and that's the way HE likes it.. The GOP are a weak Gutless Bunch of Sooks by and large with a few Galant exceptions like Mike Pence and Liz Cheney. America's reputation is Being Monstered and it's an INSIDE Job. It takes time and effort to restore Lost TRUST. Trump doesn't give a tuppeny about the Republican Party once they have served HIS Purpose. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

1 hour ago, octave said:

I am not sure what you mean by this. Care to expand on it?

It should be obvious. Integrate into the Aussie culture and Aussie values ... and be at least 3rd generation. 

[octave]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

It should be obvious. Integrate into the Aussie culture and Aussie values ... and be at least 3rd generation. 

Are you saying that someone who is not third-generation is not truly Australian? I can't quite discern your meaning.

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

We are Not doing too badly, if you add it all up..

Quite so.

But mainly so because our PM and party are playing nice in the sand pit. But just look at the Trump fiasco and you can see how a ruthless mob can tilt the playing field with disasterous consequences.

 

We rely on the politicians obeying the checks and balances built into the system. So far that's worked.

 

The yanks had checks and balances, but they stopped playing by the rules and it ceased being 'by the people, of the people or for the people'.

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

28 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Quite so.

But mainly so because our PM and party are playing nice in the sand pit. But just look at the Trump fiasco and you can see how a ruthless mob can tilt the playing field with disasterous consequences.

 

We rely on the politicians obeying the checks and balances built into the system. So far that's worked.

 

The yanks had checks and balances, but they stopped playing by the rules and it ceased being 'by the people, of the people or for the people'.

 

 

 

And what makes it worse, is those on the far right with dreams of authoritarian rule in Australia and other countries are encouraged by what they see in the US.