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Comments on: The European Commission – more democratic than the US presidency? http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/ Trying to make a point Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:21:35 +0000 hourly 1 By: free ringtones http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-41037 Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:07:52 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-41037 free ringtones…

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]]> By: Anonymous http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-1555 Sun, 10 Jul 2005 01:48:26 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-1555 Great stuff here guys, check this site out!

]]> By: Anonymous http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-1326 Fri, 08 Jul 2005 08:42:51 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-1326 quite enjoyed your work .

]]> By: Katie http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-46 Fri, 06 May 2005 10:30:44 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-46 Actually, the US President is expressly forbidden to propose legislation. As a trade-off, the Vice-President, ahem, presides over the Senate and gets a (typically tie-breaking) 100th vote. There is no such thing as a bill proposed by a party or by the government, only by congressmen.

On a side terminology note, many people, stupid americans included, mistakenly believe there are senators in the upper house and congressmen in the lower.

Of course, the lower chamber is the House of Representatives, and both houses contain congressmen (and women) but it’s considered quite impolite to address a senator as “congressman” whereas Representative David Blarney (or whatever) is almost always referred to informally as “congressman.”

]]> By: Blimpish http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-37 Thu, 05 May 2005 19:03:34 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-37 Critical test: Americans will accept (with reservations, but they will accept) the Federal Government carting off their neighbour in the middle of the night. If the European Commission did such a thing, my guess is most of us would be a tad more bothered…

]]> By: Andrew http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-26 Thu, 05 May 2005 16:14:27 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-26 Federal sceptic people, yes. Federal sceptic states? By majority of the people? Probably not.

]]> By: Monjo http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-25 Thu, 05 May 2005 16:01:49 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-25 There’s a lot of federal-sceptic people in the US. The difference between the US and the EU, as I see it is, in the US the States control most of the laws and won’t cede anything other to the Federal Government. In the EU each state (country) has its own laws, but the EU is trying to create a trump card legal system.
I think a lot of Americans wouldn’t mind seeing the US break-up, and incidentally North Carolina never officially even joined the Union.

But you’re right that the US system isn’t really very democratic, but all that happens is in the EU we get to elect someone out of a choice of a few elite idiots, in the US the president gets to pick which idiot he likes.

]]> By: Andrew http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-13 Thu, 05 May 2005 13:26:23 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-13 The best test would probably be to ask the people. Do you think the American people would agree that their political system is democratic and accountable? And do you think that the European people would agree that their system is democratic and accountable? And is there likely to be a state-by-state consensus in the US, and nation state-by-nation state consensus in Europe?

I’d say the answers are probably Yes, Partly, Yes, No, in that order. I doubt that there are any federo-sceptic states in the US, but in the EU, there certainly are EU-sceptic nation states.

]]> By: Nosemonkey http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-12 Thu, 05 May 2005 13:13:51 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-12 The legislation proposal thing is certainly an issue – I don’t agree with the current EU system on that front in the slightest, and it does bugger up the argument somewhat. And the European Demos issue is one that’s going continually to haunt the EU until something can be sorted out – which is unlikely until we’re all speaking the same language (though not impossible – check out Nicholas Ostler’s brilliant new book “Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World” for more on that issue). Still – I reckon there are a few fair points in there, which isn’t bad for a post which was originally rattled off in 20 minutes as a piss-take…

]]> By: Blimpish http://sharpener.johnband.org/2005/05/the-european-commission-more-democratic-than-the-us-presidency/#comment-11 Thu, 05 May 2005 13:10:59 +0000 http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=13#comment-11 And pl-e-e-e-ase nobody make the obvious Bush joke about that last comment.

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