Why are Europeans more effective at passing big legislation than the US?
Why are Europeans more effective at passing big legislation than the US?
EU has done really well on passing big laws such as GDPR in the recent years, while the US can't even seem to decide whether to fund their own government. Why do you think Europe is doing better than the US? One would think that since EU is more diverse it would be harder to find common ground. And there were examples of that during the Greece debt crisis. But not anymore, it seems.
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Easy: it's not first pass the post or "winner takes all". You have more variety in your parties and thus voters can identify more accurately with one. Of course there is still the problem of counting votes that isn't solved, as people can still vote more strategically instead of ideologically ("I'll vote for that party, because it's more likely to win against the big party I dislike").
Money cannot control every ideology.
To expand on this as an American: our constitution is like a beta version of democracy. We have two legislative chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate awards two senators per state, which means a sparsely populated state like Wyoming (which has less people than my city) gets the same input as massive states like California, and can hold legislation hostage. Our house of representative seats are assigned by population (good), but the way the districts are drawn is left up to each state, which means the lines can be drawn in such a way to favor the party currently in power. (Gerrymandering) If you look at polls about big issues like universal healthcare or abortion or environmental action the majority of Americans often support the opposite of what gets passed. And it's because our system is flawed.
the Congress and the Senate
The House of Representatives and the Senate. The two together compose Congress.
You're right! Editing
There are plenty senates in EU states and EU also has multiple bodies where one state = one vote, and plenty EU resolutions need unanimous vote for passage giving (say 2.1M Slovenia veto over the other half billion people)
Giving more power to the unpopulated rural areas has not gone away at all.
Is that the case for passing things like GDPR?