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>Your power base is (indirectly and delayed, but still) the people. In almost any democracy the power base are political parties who have the obligation and ab

>Your power base is (indirectly and delayed, but still) the people. In almost any democracy the power base are political parties who have the obligation and ability to control what politics are allowed to manifest in the country. Very few democracies (a notable exception might be Switzerland) actually allow for the general population to act against what the political parties want. The population exists as a feedback mechanism, which should enforce competition between parties. But the actual manifestation of the power is in the party representatives of the population, not in the population itself. If you want to tell me that the population just can create a new party, look how well that works in the US... Most democracies are representative democracies. Where instead of army and industry leaders the government has to deal with party leaders and the representatives. Certainly there are different power dynamics there, but just as certain they exist and impact the actual policies. And just as certain there are misalignment of interests between population and party representatives.

spacechild1 3y ago
> If you want to tell me that the population just can create a new party, look how well that works in the US... This is a problem of a particular voting system. The majority reprentation system has a very strong tendency towards two party systems. In countries with proportional representation it is significantly easier to create new parties and even rise to power. On the level of local governments this happens all the time. But even on the state level it is definitely possible. Just think of the various green parties in Europe that have been founded in the 1980s and 1990s. Or to give a more recent example: the rise of the AFD in Germany in recent years.
Sammi 3y ago
> If you want to tell me that the population just can create a new party, look how well that works in the US Most European countries have new popular parties come into existence regularly. Regularly. Your voting system in the US is broken.

spacechild1 3y ago

> If you want to tell me that the population just can create a new party, look how well that works in the US... This is a problem of a particular voting system. The majority reprentation system has a very strong tendency towards two party systems. In countries with proportional representation it is significantly easier to create new parties and even rise to power. On the level of local governments this happens all the time. But even on the state level it is definitely possible. Just think of the various green parties in Europe that have been founded in the 1980s and 1990s. Or to give a more recent example: the rise of the AFD in Germany in recent years.

Sammi 3y ago

> If you want to tell me that the population just can create a new party, look how well that works in the US Most European countries have new popular parties come into existence regularly. Regularly. Your voting system in the US is broken.