Russian Democracy Failing Again?

[Matt]

Not everyone needs to be elected, the people that appoint her are. We don't need the Governor-General to be elected because it's more a ceremonial thing than giving someone actual power.

Edited February 2, 2005 by Matt

[Biggie]

Fair enough. Then we shouldn't pay her if it's simply ceremonial.

[Matt]

It's still a job, a christmas Santa is more ceremonial, but he is still paid. She's paid for the work she does.

[wonks]

Not everyone needs to be elected, the people that appoint her are. We don't need the Governor-General to be elected because it's more a ceremonial thing than giving someone actual power.

the governor general should be elected, largely because he or she is still the head of state in Canada, ceremonial or not.

[Matt]

Then, he or she couldn't be replaced for not signing bills that the house has passed.

[wonks]

yes, I suppose that's true. and then we'd be really screwed.

[Biggie]

The President of the US doesn't have to sign bills which Congress passes, though GW Bush has never vetoed anything.

 

It's called checks and balances. The executive should check the legislative, and vice versa.

[wonks]

yep, but Bush is also blessed with a Republican majority in the House and Senate.

[Biggie]

So was Clinton. Things got done. And Reagan had Democratic majorities.

[wonks]

oh I'm aware. It just made things a little harder.

[Biggie]

As it should.

[Matt]

People will vote against a party they voted for if they feel that party did a bad job, so voting for the governor general is pretty much un-neccessary.

[The Foot]

Russia have always had somebody rule them, either the tsar or the communist party, sometime ‘democracy’ just doesn’t suit the country and it won’t benefit the citizens.

[HoboFactory]

What kind of bugs me is that people automatically assume that anything Russia does in terms of policy must by nature be evil. Take the war in Chechnya for example. When the Chechens killed hundreds of schoolchildren, people sympathized with the Chechens and came up with a bunch of bullshit reasons why it's understandable for the Chechens to do such a thing. One of the capured terrorists later admitted that despite it starting off as a hostage situation, there was never any intention to negotiate or release all hostages, and that the only purpose was to take the fighting and murder to a new level, to ensure that truly nothing is to be sacred anymore, not even the lives of innocent children. Now suppose the Russians had done the same to Chechen kids. Just rounded them up and gunned them down. The world would be in an uproar, the Russians would be inhuman, racist, evil, and monstrous. Yet when Chechens do it, people rush to sympathize with and excuse such actions.