I tell you.
The British parliamentary system is far superior to the American system. Just take the time to tune into C-Span when they are televising Question Time in the British House of Commons.
Every Wednesday the Prime Minister has to take questions from any member of the House of Commons about ANY TOPIC. And he has to answer off the cuff. (At least to the questions from opposition parties.) I don't even like the guy but I have to admire him.
Stunning. One sees Tony Blair's intelligence, education and poise quite evidently. One just cannot see George Bush II being able to function like this.
It points out how far short our system falls.
Posted by artandscience at July 7, 2004 07:29 AMOh but can you imagine the entertainment value of watching George W answering questions off the cuff for an hour. I'd pay to see that :)
Blair can sometimes rely too much on spin. But I have to be honest, the man believes in what he says and I also admire him for that. The thing is it's not only Blair that has to go through this. Near enough every government minister must stand at the dispatch box and field questions on particular issues relating to their portfolio.
Wouldn't you like to see Rumsfield answering questions on the fly from members of the opposition regarding Iraq? But then again it depends on the opposition - you have to have a good one. Also Ministers in this country can also be quizzed (and not always previously notified) by members of their own party whenever there is a free debate. How rough this questioning is depends on the unity of the party and the career aspirations of the MP doing the quizzing ;)
Isn't the senate and congress similar? I guess you're just missing regular attendance by Dubya and his cabinet.
Posted by: Gary at July 7, 2004 11:43 AMNo.. I don't believe that there is an open question ethic in senate and congress. These guys are so divorced from reality (at least the senators) that once they take the floor people don't question them. I think it's pretty rare to have any sort of debate or discussion in public in the Senate (don't really know about the Congress).
I'll have to watch a couple of sessions on C-Span. It's actually a hell of a lot more boring than watching the Houses of Parliament.
Our equivalent is the Sunday morning talk shows. They're pretty good but they tend to be very partisan and I sometimes think that the questions are setups. I mean, there are good conversations but they rarely seem to get any controversial statements made.
Posted by: stefan at July 7, 2004 12:39 PMI watched a similar session a year or so ago and was moved. How often do you feel disconnected from American politics, no matter how much your try and dig in? It's almost as if they intentionally shelter us from the system...
I would love to see a quarterly review (at the minimum) in which the President and Co. must answer questions from the house or Senate.
That would be a movement to work for...