Stupid Government

Americans will probably never admit it but their system of government is really kind of stupid. Yes, yes we all know that the fathers of the nation intended to weaken central government forever by providing counterweights to each branch. This design served them well in an era of Kings and Emperors. That era is long, long past.

Anyone who would prefer a paralyzed government to a powerful government– like Canada’s– prefers no government at all. We Canadians enjoy the spectacle of parties running for election, winning, and then having absolutely no excuse for not carrying out their platform. It’s easy: you campaign on your policies, you write the legislation, you propose it in the House of Commons, you analyze it in committee for a while, then you bring it back and pass it. Americans will tell you that this process is terrible and leads to oppression and dictatorship. They much prefer their process of running on a platform, proposing legislation, having it dismembered and appended to death in various committees of the House and then the Senate, having it stall for years in a second or third round of committees and negotiations, and then, finally, having a spectral mostly useless shadow of itself pass just before summer recess.

I think most Canadians would tell you in a flash that they would rather have the government do something and occasionally fail, than have the government do nothing and always fail.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *