And I wish we had less political parties in Guatemala. During the last election there were 26!!! That’s for a country of 17 million people. Just crazy.
You sure they were political parties and not forked linux distros that accidentally ended up on a ballot 
?
26 is too many
Theres a book called The Paradox of Choice that talks about the problem of choices.
It contends that too few is a problem. The US election system is one example. Pick from these two but if neither really represents you closely you either dont vote or pick “the lesser of two evils”. Thats not good.
And that too many is a problem as well. People get paralyzed by having too many choices and can be overwhelmed and so they opt to do nothing instead.
There’s some debate about whether this really holds true but it sure seems to in some cases
This is noted on the wikipedia page and in this PBS item
Is this akin to the infamous “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” moment ?
- which is apparently fictitious but still …
Holds true for me when I go to McDonalds now days (well not NOW but in the recent past), I used to get in order a Big Mac and be done, now I stare at all the available menu items for minutes. And I end up ordering the Big Mac anyway.
26 parties is no problem. After all, that’s what a 5% threshold is for - you only get seats in Parliament if you reach it.
6 of this parties were canceled after the election since according to the electoral law if a party does not get at least 5% of the popular vote the electoral tribunal has to cancel them.
Since we have so many political parties most elections are conducted in two rounds, if there is not a majority of votes in the first round the two parties with the most votes get passed to the second round. The thing is that even some of the smaller parties get some seats on Congress, the elected congresspeople end up ditching their original party and join larger parties to gain strength. There are 160 seats in Congress wich is stupid for a country of 17 million. Guatemala needs a major overhaul of it’s election process and a reduction of size in congress wich has zero chances of happening since congress would need to vote on that.
Jobs for the boys, eh?
At least you’re not the formerly Great Britain:
(Always fun to read John Crace)
Best comment (worthy of “Yes, Prime Minister”):
“So have I got this right? They had to queue up to vote on whether or not they had to physically be there to queue up to vote, but only those that could be there to vote could vote on having to be there to queue up to vote. Those that couldn’t be there to queue up to vote couldn’t vote on not having to be there to queue up to vote in future.”
Though the Tories are more Monty Python …
That is only true if you think there are simple solutions to complex problems.
Belgium is divided into
- three different communities (Flemish/Dutch, French, German)
- three highly autonomous regions with different languages, customs, political parties (left, right, center), etc: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Region in the north, the French-speaking Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region (where they speak everything)
- five sub-national legislatures
The political problems are not due to Proportional Representation, but represent the situation on the ground - for example the Flemish would not want to be governed by the Walloons and vice versa.
A “first past the post” system would only aggravate the political split and lead to more serious problems as people would feel disenfranchised without representation (especially when gerrymandering is involved) - as emphasised by the current situation in the US (and the UK is getting there too).
Instead with or without a government, there is social peace - BECAUSE people are still represented.
So I take Belgium’s parliament over Trump or Boris every day of the week.
Well, well, well … first time I’m impressed by Johnson.
Question is what his colleagues (especially the Cabinet) make of it - they must think they’ve been hit by a truck!
That is wicked smart. Brain drain!
I guess the oxygen he received during his stay at the hospital was good for his brain. Good move.
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This seems not only a smart move it also seems to be a very humanitarian one
I like it
Considering that his political career was build on the xenophobia of the (far) right Brexit Party the question is how his electorate will react to this - they didn’t want Polish plumbers, Romanian fruit pickers, etc, though they are potentially softening on all those Eastern European nurses and care givers. And now offering to take in 3 Million Chinese? Reese-Moog especially will be interesting.
It is most definitely a curious development given his Brexit history isnt it ?
The American Evangelicals’ version of Islamic State? One as nutty as the other …
Hypocrites as far as I’m concerned
Trump isn’t christian nor does he behave like one
But so many christians (never mind just evangelicals) seem to not care as long as he can pack the court with ultra-conservative judges that will rule against anything “liberal”
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That’s where I wish you were right, but it is worse - they are not. It is an old-style interpretation of their faith, the same mindset where people went on crusades or would “smite god’s enemies”. It’s the same with Islamic State - they aren’t hypocrites, they are zealots.
Zealots who obviously dont read the bible they claim to love.
Or ones that at least read it VERY selectively and ignore all those inconvenient parts about how to treat other people
I still think the right thing to do is treat people equally, fairly, honestly and on the basis of their character not their skin color.
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I think the same - but the big mistake most people make is to assume that others MUST share their views and moral outlook. They don’t. And not because they go against their own morals, that they really “should know better” - but according to THEIR point of view they are doing the “right” thing. That is what is so disturbing about humans - that people can look at the same thing and have completely opposite views.
I’m currently helping a friend who is getting divorced from a very intelligent, care-taking but controlling husband. He is coming from an abusive background, and he means well, but he never wants to be in such a helpless situation again - and his way of dealing with it is controlling everything around him. As long as that works with a light touch it is hardly noticeable … except that people slowly get suffocated and then find themselves where they never wanted to be. He doesn’t help his wife or kids to develop themselves, stand on their own feet - but pushes them to do what he thinks is best (think Neil’s dad in Dead Poets Society but less dogmatic) - and it is unsurprising to me that both his daughters had to fight with suicidal thoughts. His oldest daughter (who absolutely loves Chemistry) is now studying Medicine to become a doctor like him (and absolutely hates it). He fully expects that the daughter will be happy and grateful in years to come (and she would not dare tell him that she is unhappy about her studies). If you try to talk about it to him then he just thinks you have weird ideas. He means well - but that is not the same as doing it well.
If you talk to him about freedom then of course that is important - but kids need a “firm hand” (true) and direction (true) … but the end goal is to have them stand on their own as themselves. And the “as themselves” bit is missing in his view of the World (as it is for many parents).
When it comes to religion then there are a lot of nice things being said in the Koran (I read it) - about helping the poor, being kind, being humble, etc. - and most muslims will apply that to all others. But Sure 5 and 9 also make a clear distinction between muslims, christian/jews (who believe in the same god, so they have to pay an extra tax for not following the leader), and heathens (who can be killed and enslaved). And that is where Islamic State is coming from - according to them all the good things only apply to other muslims.
It is the same with the Bible - most christians would argue that the concepts and rules apply to all (probably, but considering how they react to the refugee crises in Syria or at the Mexican border I have my doubts) - but the most fervent ones distinguish between christians and heathens (who better convert unless they want to be put to the sword). Their mind is focussed on the Final Days and Armageddon, and they see Trump not as pious but as a new Saint George come to slay the dragon. It’s extreme xenophobia in religious clothing. And all the nice things that the Bible is saying they follow in their community - but outside is a very different matter.
And THAT is what a lot of the “enlightened” crowd isn’t getting. I’ve warned for nearly 20 years that Scientists are incredibly naive in thinking it is enough to be right, that facts and data speak for themselves - while the religious right has been organising since the 80s and started a concerted attack on Science and it’s teachings (especially evolution). It is most evident in the USA (with repeated and increasingly successful attempts to teach “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution, or ban the teaching of evolution outright), and is seeping into the UK and Western Europe. And you see the same in Iran, Malaysia, Turkey with their religious leaders (the turnaround was very prominent in Turkey with Erdogan who is a lot like Trump).
But it goes deeper than that - it is not only Science that is affected, it is the whole of Society. The people on the left have the right attitude about equality - but they are incredibly naive in thinking that everyone will come round to their point of view because they are “obviously” right. And then they are surprised when they get steamrolled by Trump.
Why do you think religion puts so much emphasis on kids and effort into rearing them? Creches, kindergardens, schools? As Himmler said: “Give me any child, and I will make a Nazi of him.” - the same principle is at work: get them young, indoctrinate them with what you think is right, and they don’t stand a chance.