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For me Germany and Switzerland. Switzerland for me a little better than Germany. Just introduce Referendums in Germany on a national basis and they are the two best systems.
For me Germany and Switzerland. Switzerland for me a little better than Germany. Just introduce Referendums in Germany on a national basis and they are the two best systems.
One thing you can say for those two nations is, there's not a whole lot of diversity there.
The tribe is united, with no other tribes causing friction.
I think Alexander Pope said it: "For forms of government let fools contest. Whatever is best administered is best."
The Scandinavian countries - on paper - are unmanageable messes. Monarchy? Unelected heads of state who, constitutionally, can affect governmentla matters quite a bit? Elections at the whim of the sitting government? Minority coalitions forming governments? Yet it works, thanks to a lot of unspoken understandings that are just the way things are done - very low corruption, for instance. Nobody working to actually dismantle the machinery of government.
On paper, Greece's system is probably just fine. (I'll confess, I've never read their constitution.) It's just that they decided to have German-level welfare state, but the people weren't willing to pay German-level taxes and the governments didn't have the will or the desire to actually secure revenue. Each government's ultimate goal was to keep things running just long enough to pass the hot potato on.
Germany - being relatively modern - is still saddled with a constitution that was hammered up in a hurry when the US, British and French occupation zones were handed autonomy. The proper constitution was supposed to be rolled out when the Soviets left. Of course they didn't for about 5 decades, and when they finally did, it was rather abrupt and the West German constitution, warts and all, had to be good enough. But it works, probably because Germany had some harsh lessons on what can happen when you give up on boring parliamentary debate and listen to vulgar sloganeers promising easy fixes instead.
The US system certainly has its warts. Head of State and Head of Government in one person is just a bad idea, for instance. Fixed election dates lead to politicians spending more time campaigning and less governing. (Yes, I know I complained about parliamentary governments calling elections whenever. Shaddup.) A federal system designed back when people used horses for transportation and communication was by letter will start creaking at the seams in a world of telegrams and railroads.
TLDR; It's a moot exercise to compare systems without taking cultural traditions and established practice into account.
One thing you can say for those two nations is, there's not a whole lot of diversity there.
The tribe is united, with no other tribes causing friction.
No diversity in Switzerland? They have 4 official languages. Quabbling internally is their 2nd-favorite sport, after marksmanship.
Ever asked yourself why there were 2 makers (Victorinox and Wenger) of Swiss Army knives for decades? Because the Swiss government had to avoid any appearance of favoritism when placing a contract in either the the German-speaking or the French-speaking area, and so picked a factory from each to get some quiet.
I think the US political system is, in theory, superior to others such as the parliamentary systems common in Europe - at least for us. The US is a diverse and large country where an adversarial check and balance system has clear benefits. The abject failure of our system over the past couple decades has nothing to do with the wisdom of our forefathers but is our own doing in allowing money and influence to corrupt our politics. It would seem easy to fix that while maintaining the core of our system, but the politicians benefit greatly from it and will only reluctantly ever do so.
I wonder how many people that voted for Finland are buying their tickets and trying to move there???? If you try to enter into or stay in Finland illegally will they welcome you with open arms??? Please, someone try and report back about your experience.
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