Sunday, May 01, 2005
What I like about British politics
As a brief followup to the below post, let me list some of the advantages that the Brits have over our electoral system:
Question Time - There is no American equivalent to Question Time, which is why we import it and show it on C-SPAN. Question Time is a marvelous half hour of political entertainment -politics as smackdown. At its best, it offers the dramas of the parties confronting each other. To be sure, the Prime Minister has to field lesser inquiries, such as when the Honorable Gentleman from Lower Whappingswich inquires about the government's program to alleviate cattle languor, but much of it is genuine political entertainment. Moreover, Question Time sets a high bar for party leaders. It may select unfairly for glibness, but it does demand mental quickness and a broad command of issues - which are things one wants of one's leader/
A rigorous selection process - Question Time stands as one of several institutions that the British system has for selecting strong leaders. To get to the top you need to be able to forge alliances, appeal to broad numbers of people, and show real legislative and then ministerial ability. This seems a step up over plucking appealing governors out of relative obscurity. And a party leader has to continually maintain party loyalty. The system does not tolerate weak leaders and has no equivalent to a lame duck period.
Small districts - Each British parliamentary district has about 60,000 people, give or take a few thousand. This makes for a lot of banal questions at Question Time but it also offers legislators an ability to truly connect with constituents (though few originate in their elective constituency)
A strong sense of norms - As we await the nuclear option over here, it bears mentioning that the British system persists largely due to custom - what is referred to as an unwritten constitution. Holding elections within every five year span is a norm, not a law. The strong grip of custom helps to keep the system functional. In the US, that has been appallingly absent of late.
Constituencies with funny names - Braintree, Ynys Mons, Reading West, Scunthorpe, Skipton & Ripon, Bury St Edmunds. The British genius for naming things spices things up a bit.
