@pmonks @mloxton @genewitch @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat @benroyce
United Kingdom: “Hold my beer”
A parliamentary system may still be subject to “peculiarities". Labour just won a “landslide" with more than double the majority of the previous government but with a significantly smaller percentage of the vote (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_general_elections#21st_century).
For the US *Presidency* (as long as there is one), IMHO there should be universal suffrage with some form of ranked voting.
@mmalc @pmonks @mloxton @genewitch @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
the #UK does better than the #US in terms of political structure
but #australia looks at both of us and calls us poor bastards, with their compulsory voting, preferential voting (what we call ranked choice voting), and parliamentary democracy
we're jealous aussies
@BenAveling @mmalc @pmonks @mloxton @genewitch @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
sometimes you can vaguely smell where someone got a turn of phrase or a reference
but you happened to nail me 100% dead perfect exactly:
https://mastodon.social/@benroyce/112594697112523477
YOU ARE IN MY HEAD
@benroyce
> IN MY HEAD
Ironically, I'm currently listening to The Cranberries' Zombie.
@benroyce cognitive and nominative
@benroyce The last is probably coincidence, unless you too were named after the good Mr Chifley.
had to look him up
no, i'm too hopelessly american
my name is derived from the mandarin word "bèn" 笨
meaning "stupid, foolish, silly, slow-witted, clumsy"
(/s)
@benroyce I had a colleague, also Ben, while working in Taiwan, many years ago. He had just enough Mandarin to believe that "Ni Hao Ben" meant "You good, Ben".
It did not.
@BenAveling @benroyce does it mean “ hey stupid?”
@benroyce @BenAveling also, at the time I would not have imagined that the Bush administration was going to lie us into a war on 2 fronts; I mean who does that?
A stupid person with GOP Sithlord Cheney pulling his strings
@benroyce @BenAveling well surely Cheney has studied enough history to know it is foolhardy to divide your troops along 2 fronts.
@benroyce @BenAveling hey, check out my deductive reasoning skills!
cōngmíng de!
@benroyce @BenAveling ok well I had to look that one up, but I believe “thank you” would be the appropriate response.
@DanadasGrau Pretty much.
Normally "Ni hao" is best translated as "hello" or "hi" or whatever, but literally it means "you good", but add in bèn and it means more like "you are good and stupid".
@benroyce @pmonks @mloxton @genewitch @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
In some respects I think the UK has been historically somewhat “lucky" — regardless of what anyone thinks of the winners in the most recent election, the outcome is objectively far from “fair”.
(See also https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/how-unfair-or-disproportionate-is-the-uk’s-voting-system-for-general-elections/ — and that was from 2010!)
The main point though was simply that "parliamentary" doesn't guarantee a fairer result.
Beyond that, I fully agree we should do better, we need to work towards it.
@benroyce @mmalc @pmonks @mloxton @genewitch@fediverse.projectftm.com @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
The only thing Australia does better is a better illusion of democracy. Both major parties here also been corrupted by powerful corporations and religious organisations.
@jessica_fey @mmalc @pmonks @mloxton @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
I'm not going to dispute you, I'm merely going to point out that you have it better than the usa. and that there is always corruption and always will be. It's merely a constant struggle to minimize it. there is no better deal
@jessica_fey @benroyce @pmonks @mloxton @Remittancegirl @JuliusGoat @zenkat
Major parties being corrupt though is an orthogonal issue; the question is how readily could another party gain ascendency. In the current US system it's well-nigh impossible. With other electoral systems the possibility is at least greater. The Australian system has a number of advantages over the US to make the government more representative of the people's preferences.