Nickel civics lesson
There was a staff meeting yesterday morning, which ended up being a bust because most of the staff were off-site. In the middle of it, I was asked to impart any interesting news from America - it wasn't a very official staff meeting, more of a bull session - and I mentioned that there had been an election back home on Tuesday.
The response was approximately wait, what?
It's a fundamental difference between the US system and most parliamentary systems. Here in Greece, they're trying to form a transitional government, in preparation for calling for general elections - something utterly alien to the US system. Sometimes it takes a bit of explanation from someone familiar with the system - not from study, but instinctive familiarity - that yes, this is the way the system works in America, that elections don't happen at the whim of one party or the other, don't get called as a result of a vote of confidence, but they go off on an annual basis, like clockwork.
And the little wrinkle that there are fifty states, each with its own cycle for governors and legislators, so pretty much every year someone's up for election.
I grew up with it, so it seems natural, but to someone who grew up in the parliamentary system, it must look really weird...
The response was approximately wait, what?
It's a fundamental difference between the US system and most parliamentary systems. Here in Greece, they're trying to form a transitional government, in preparation for calling for general elections - something utterly alien to the US system. Sometimes it takes a bit of explanation from someone familiar with the system - not from study, but instinctive familiarity - that yes, this is the way the system works in America, that elections don't happen at the whim of one party or the other, don't get called as a result of a vote of confidence, but they go off on an annual basis, like clockwork.
And the little wrinkle that there are fifty states, each with its own cycle for governors and legislators, so pretty much every year someone's up for election.
I grew up with it, so it seems natural, but to someone who grew up in the parliamentary system, it must look really weird...