Politics Permanently Broken?
I had this discussion with a few co workers on the way to work this morning after reading CNN's republican primary. Obviously this discussion is regarding American politics though I wouldn't be surprised if it applied to those of you across the pond as well.
The question was whether we have finally hit the 'point of no return' when it comes to the American politic system, where it is clear that it just is never going to work again as intended. This was sparked by the fact that Rick Santorum is neck and neck with Mitt Romney in the Republican race.
We're talking about a guy here that is quoted on record as supporting what amounts to Biblical law. Pretty much as far right as you can get without becoming a parody of a real human being (ala Colbert). So what this means is that a large portion of the population think that this guy, clearly a no compromise, hyper-conservative candidate, should run a country.
If this is what is now considered 'electable', how do we ever expect to see compromising, efficient, and a unified government working together again? We've already seen that there is almost no desire to work together in our House and Senate... if the new breed of electable candidates are the ones with the most extreme views how are we going to continue to have a country?
The only ideas we could generally come up with didn't end well. Mostly with revolution, collapse and restructuring, or other extremely radical scenarios that require an immediate and painful change in the way we govern and elect.
The question was whether we have finally hit the 'point of no return' when it comes to the American politic system, where it is clear that it just is never going to work again as intended. This was sparked by the fact that Rick Santorum is neck and neck with Mitt Romney in the Republican race.
We're talking about a guy here that is quoted on record as supporting what amounts to Biblical law. Pretty much as far right as you can get without becoming a parody of a real human being (ala Colbert). So what this means is that a large portion of the population think that this guy, clearly a no compromise, hyper-conservative candidate, should run a country.
If this is what is now considered 'electable', how do we ever expect to see compromising, efficient, and a unified government working together again? We've already seen that there is almost no desire to work together in our House and Senate... if the new breed of electable candidates are the ones with the most extreme views how are we going to continue to have a country?
The only ideas we could generally come up with didn't end well. Mostly with revolution, collapse and restructuring, or other extremely radical scenarios that require an immediate and painful change in the way we govern and elect.