Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

America was the first liberal democracy with its primitive 2-Party system where winner-takes-all. In more modern, parliamentary democracies, fractional vote-getters have fractional representation, so a Third party that got 10% of the vote would have 10% of the representatives. Not so here; all that a Third Party could be here is a spoiler: just ask Bush Sr. what he thinks of Ross Perot. Parliaments have the great advantage of ideological choice: voters have a smorgasbord of political platforms to choose from, a much more inclusive solution.

The weakness and the strength of parliamentary representation is that some combination of the various factions must form an agreement among themselves to work together, hopefully one of which will represent the wishes of the vast majority of people. If not, the coalition dissolves and another one forms. Some nations, such as Italy, are so fragmented that coalitions fall almost every year, but at least fringe thinkers are not left unrepresented, and though their numbers may be small, there is always the opportunity to be part of a new coalition where their influence is amplified. Everyone needs the hope that their desires will be represented eventually. This is, of course, opposite of the United States congress where one Party can steamroll the other, totally ignoring their desires, which is essentially frustrating the desires of half the country's people.