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| SvennoJ said: One more result, sample size 9, mostly re-affirming the preferences here Government |
This is kind of where I'm at. It seems to me that fascism and authoritarianism is pretty much the inevitable end result of the 2-party presidential systems that dominate in the Americas and much of East/Southeast Asia, as we've seen with the U.S. at the federal and state levels, the Philippines, South Korea, and too many Latin American countries. I find myself increasingly supporting direct referenda as a bulwark to the failings of elected officials, and even then, those elected officials try their best to manipulate the vote in referenda as well as doing ther best to defang referenda that they don't like, as is the case with recent referenda protecting reproductive rights, as well as Oklahoma's attempts to override the overwhelming will of the people when it comes to legal cannabis products. I might be less cynical about letting representative government take its course if it were truly representative, but I grew up in a state where I was effectively at the whims of people with rather extreme views who are openly disdainful of my views, since the winner-takes-all, first-past-the-post system means that they can treat people like NPCs and not suffer any political or legal consequences for it, and am only experiencing the feeling of having any actual voice in my government for the first time in my life in middle age since I moved out of that state. I will likely never live in the Bible Belt again. This would also apply to me if I had been a hard conservative living in a state like Massachusetts. The cliche of "democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what is for dinner" has always made me roll my eyes, because the "wolves" are already deciding what's for dinner, with zero input from the "sheep."
I'm also increasingly cynical about the concept of separation of powers as it pertains to executive power. I feel that the president should never have been given full separation of powers from the legislature and the Constitution should have made it clear that the President is firmly subordinate to Congress in all matters. It should not require an elaborate political process with an impossibly high bar to remove a bad president, and we should not be bound to a rigid four year election cycle. Paradoxically, I do feel that the roles of head of state and head of government should absolutely have been separated. Those are nuances that aren't covered by this quiz.
Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 17 May 2025
