Why is America’s political system so dysfunctional? (1)

November 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I was recently discussing with an American friend some of the problems with the American political system and I advanced an argument that i should like to share with you and test on you.

The fundamental components of my argument are as follows:

The American political system is seriously dysfunctional
This is not the fault primarily of politicians who are themselves victims of the system
A main – but not the sole – factor is the nature of the US Constitution which is no longer fit for purpose
The US Constitution is really difficult to amend when there is controversy around the amendment
The Constitution is so hard to amend both because it was designed that way and because it is so revered by many Americans

I don’t know that everyone would accept the first point in my chain of argument, but it is a widely held view both inside and outside the USA. The sort of evidence adduced to support this view includes the following:

The frequency and cost of Congressional elections requires constant and large-scale fundraising which makes Congressmen beholden to financial interests and opens the American political system to the charge of plutocracy
Repeated efforts to control and limit campaigning expenditure have failed with the ultimate constraint being the First Amendment to the Constitution
So many legislative proposals in Congress fail to be enacted – in part because of the Senate blocking minority.
Many of those legislative proposals which are passed take a lot of time and require damaging ‘earmark’ amendments which effectively represent ‘pork barrel’ politics
There is regular failure to agree a federal budget before the start of the new financial period resulting in federal ‘shutdown’
Even a President struggles to enact legislation even when his political party has a majority in both Houses of Congress

In a recent piece for the “New York Times”, Robert Kuttner wrote: “The American system is experiencing a crisis of confidence that is almost unprecedented in its history. A recent New York Times/CBS poll found that 89 per cent of respondents did not trust government to do the right thing and 85 per cent expect the economy to continue stagnating or worsen.” He argued that: “The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has revealed one of the flaws of the American system. With its checks and balances, the United States Constitution has a deliberate bias against activism.”

Which brings us to the Constitution. Its distribution of power between the various organs of the state and its elaborate system of checks and balances were clearly intended by the Founding Fathers to be a radical alternative to the system of monarchical absolute power exercised by King George III from whose control Americans had just taken their nation following a prolonged war of independence. However, more than two centuries later, such a system is dysfunctional when the USA is now the global military superpower and the largest economy in an integrated global system of trade and finance.

Of course, the Constitution can be changed – but this is really difficult. First, a proposed amendment has to secure a two-thirds vote of members present in both houses of Congress. Then three-quarters of the state legislatures have to ratifiy the proposed change (this stage may or may not be governed by a specific time limit). Even the Equal Rights Amendment failed to meet these thresholds after a 10 year process.

There have been 27 amendments to the US Constitution (although one was simply a repeal of another) – listed here.

The first 10 amendments – constituting the Bill of Rights – were taken together shortly after the drafting of the original Constitution. Of the other 17 (effectively 16), one was the abolition of slavery, but this took half a century and a bloody civil war. Other amendments brought about woman’s suffrage (1920) and votes for those aged 18 (1971), but these were simply measures introduced about the same time in other democratic states. My proposition is that any constitutional change that is controversial – for instance, longer terms for Congressmen or strong controls on election expenditure or strong controls on gun ownership – is effectively impossible to achieve. This makes the US Constitution the oldest and most inflexible in the world and in large part explains why the US political system is dysfunctional and will remain so.

Would any readers – especially from the USA – like to comment?

Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)

New record of 10,000+ visits

November 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Today my web site achieved a new record with more than 10,000 visits in a day for the first time.

Thanks so much for your interest and support. Please spread the word about the site to your friends.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (4)

The high price of excessive inequality

November 8th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

“If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren’t responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.”

This is the opening of today’s column in the ‘Guardian” by George Moniot who always writes in a stimulating manner and on challenging subjects. He goes on to point out:

“Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.In the UK, the money earned by the poorest tenth fell by 12% between 1999 and 2009, while the money made by the richest 10th rose by 37%. The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, climbed in this country from 26 in 1979 to 40 in 2009.”

Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)

The art of the political film

November 7th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

This weekend, i saw the George Clooney film “The Ides Of March” – an excellent examination of intrigue in American political campaigning. You can read my review here.

I’m fascinating by politics and really enjoy political films. I have reviewed 51 of them here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

The Occupy London protest

November 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

On 15 October 2011, an Occupy London (actually Occupy the London Stock Exchange) protest began and now looks like being around for a long time. The protest was a British version of a protest that started in New York’s financial district and has since spread all around the USA and indeed the world.

The protesters initially intended to marshall in front of St Paul’s Cathedral prior to occupying the close-by London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square. But the police put a stop to that (and still do) and the protest turned into a tent site in front of the Cathedral and all along its north side.

It was only this week that I found myself in the area and decided to have a quick look around the tent city. I was only there for a short time, but I was really impressed at the degree of organisation on show and the evident willingness of the protesters to engage with passers-by who wished to discuss and debate with them.

At home, I checked out the Occupy London web site. Three weeks into the demonstration, the nearest there is to a set of demands or a policy programme is the Initial Statement which insists: “The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives.” There are a few Key Facts on the economic crisis and the inequalities in our society.

Every day, there is a lot of activities and debate and there is a real effort to make the process democratic and inclusive, There is a General Assembly and working groups with minutes and a process for consensual decision-making – for a flavour, see here.

It would be easy to dismiss or trivialise this protest, but it has clearly tapped into a mood in the wider populace and achieved an unexpected degree of publicity. This is an event worth watching.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

Do you watch Indian films?

November 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Not so long ago, I saw and enjoyed the Indian movie “My Name Is Khan” [my review here] and this week I viewed the Bollywood blockbuster “Ra.One” [my review here].

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

A review of “An Optimist’s Tour Of The Future”

November 3rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I’ve just finished a book by British author Mark Stevenson with the unusual title “An Optimist’s Tour Of The Future”. It’s a very readable review of the current state of and future prospects for technologies which are utterly transforming our world. You can read my review here.

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)

Special exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum

November 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon in north-west London was opened in 1972 and I visited it regularly in the 1970s and 1980s. However, I haven’t been there for many years, but was drawn back this week for a special exhibition.

The exhibition – small but very informative – is called “Brothers In Arms” and deals with the Poles and Czechoslovaks who fought with the RAF in the Second World War. The Poles made up 16 squadrons and the Czechoslovaks had four.

The focus of the exhibition is very much on the Battle of Britain and the contribution made by the Polish 303 Squadron. The unit was home to two of the most successful RAF aces of the Battle: Witold Urbanowicz and Josef Frantisek (who was in fact Czech).

I visited the exhibition with my wife Vee whose father was a Czech pilot with the wartime RAF. He never actually served with a Czechoslovak squadron but he did shoot down 18 Luftwaffe aircraft.

We were delighted to see Karel Kuttelwascher mentioned in the exhibition and there was the original of his combat report for his third ‘kill’ with his personal signature.

After the war, those airmen who returned to Poland and Czechoslovakia found that the Communist regimes there regarded them with such distain that most were dismissed from the air force and many were falsely imprisoned. In order not to offend Stalin, the British did not even allow the Poles to march in the victory celebrations in London.

Since the fall of Communism in Central & Easter Europe, these brave men are now recognised but too late – most of them are ‘flying with angels’.

Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)