the worst of the English-speaking democracies – 2
I’ve written briefly about Australian and New Zealand politics, now to Canada, which suffers from sharing a long border with the USA, and also some of its history with regard to Britain. However it couldn’t have been too much of a head-butting experience (with Britain) as it’s still a constitutional monarchy with King Chaz as ceremonial head of state (though a recent poll showed that only about a quarter of Canadians are actually aware of this), and they have a Governor-General, like we in Australia do. They even have a House of Commons, but thankfully not of Lords (the Brits should get rid of that thing, tradition be damned). Their Upper House is the Senate, as in Australia. The head of the elected government is the Prime Minister, primus inter pares, as in Australia and New Zealand. The two dominant parties are the Conservatives and the Liberals. So the Liberals are the left party in Canada, but the right party in Australia, and ‘liberalism’, especially neoliberalism, is a right-wing ideology in Britain and Australia, though it is seen as left-wing in the US. Other confusions include ‘blue’ states being left-wing in the US but right-wing in Australia, and vice versa for ‘red’ states. Canada also has its ‘minor’ parties like Australia.
According to Wikipedia, party discipline is much stronger in Canada than in either the USA or Britain, which is probably why their political dynamics aren’t internationally newsworthy. The country’s culture is also far more liberal (in the left-wing sense) than the US. I’ll quote this lengthy piece (references removed) from Wikipedia, which captures better than I could that vas deferens:
Canada’s egalitarian approach to governance has emphasised social welfare, economic freedom, and multiculturalism, which is based on selective economic migrants, social integration, and suppression of far-right politics, that has wide public and political support. Its broad range of constituent nationalities and policies that promote a “just society” are constitutionally protected. Individual rights, equality and inclusiveness (social equality) have risen to the forefront of political and legal importance for most Canadians, as demonstrated through support for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a relatively free economy, and social liberal attitudes toward women’s rights (like pregnancy termination), divorce, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, birth control, euthanasia or cannabis use. There is also a sense of collective responsibility in Canadian political culture, as is demonstrated in general support for universal health care, multiculturalism, evolution, gun control, foreign aid, and other social programs.
Sounds almost too good to be true – is it propaganda? No wonder the USA avoids mentioning its goody two shoes neighbour – though of course Trump is intent on annexing the place, sort of (then, everything he says is ‘sort of’).
My source goes on to say it’s all pretty centrist in Canada – the Libs being centre-left and the Conservatives being centre-right, and often the twain shall meet. Members of the Cabinet, with various portfolios, are usually, but not always, members of the elected party. All very collaborative and humanistic. It almost seems as if they’ve learned from United Staters how not to run governments.
Canada has a Supreme Court, with 9 Justices, and a Constitution, initiated in 1867. Its decisions are presented bilingually – an important point to remember, Canada being effectively a bilingual nation, though its political system is largely based on that of Britain. Again, nothing controversial to see here.
In trying to comprehend the horror of the US political system in comparison to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, I’ve not yet mentioned one factor – Christianity. I’ve written elsewhere about how rapidly Christianity has been abandoned in Australia, especially over the past 60 years or so. There has been a similar abandonment in Canada, though it has been slower. In Canada’s 2021 census, 53.3% reported being Christian, and 34.6% claimed no religion. Australia’s last census was also in 2021, with Christianity at 43.9% and no religion at 38.9%, and it looks certain that the 2026 census will show ‘no religion’ getting the most ‘votes’. In the USA, where it seems they don’t conduct censuses, we have to rely on private companies such as Gallup Inc., whose polling over 2020-2024 has Christian belief at around 69% and ‘religiously unaffiliated’ at 21.4%. One might imagine that Christian religiosity might result in more ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ loving-kindness, but, whodathunkit, the USA has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the democratic world, as well as the largest rich-poor divide, and the lowest per capita spending on public health, education and welfare. Jesus wept.
So how does the USA’s political system compare with the Westminster-based systems of Canada, New Zealand and Australia? In their 2018 book How democracies die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two Harvard-based political scientists, don’t make such comparisons – instead they compare the USA’s problems with those of Venezuela, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Hungary and other despotisms. This, I think, is a typically American bias and failure, especially when you consider how often that country’s CIA has deliberately destabilised other polities, mostly in favour of right-wing alternatives. Had they simply looked over the border in Canada, they would have found plenty of material to shame the USA by comparison.
There are so many problems with the USA’s political system that it’s hard to know where to start. But probably the best place to start is at the top. They need to scrap their Presidential system. None of the other democratic systems detailed here – in Australia, New Zealand and Canada – have ever, and will ever feel the need to have ‘no kings’ rallies (fingers crossed). They each have Prime Ministers, primus inter pares again, who can be dismissed by a no-confidence motion from their cabinet, or by a leadership ballot against a contestant, e.g when Paul Keating challenged Bob Hawke’s leadership and won in 1991 – and this has occurred from time to time, in Australia, Britain and elsewhere. There is no national vote for one person – the Prime Minister has to win her own electorate like everyone else. The USA has an impeachment process but it has proved grossly ineffective in recent times.
Prime ministers, unlike US Presidents, have no pardoning powers, no immunity from prosecution and no ‘running mate’, who can, completely unelected, become President if the incumbent dies, is incapacitated or forced to resign. They have no power to select unelected people to high office, in Treasury, Justice, Health, Foreign Affairs or any other capacity. They do not personally select members of the judiciary, and they must attend parliament to explain, along with other front-benchers, their legislative program and respond to criticism from the opposition. Governing Canada, and Australia, and New Zealand, is a collective responsibility, and hopefully always will be.
There are many other problems with the US system that are screamingly obvious to outsiders. The pardoning powers, the immunity, the gerrymandering (which happens elsewhere but to nowhere near the degree that it happens in the US), the voter suppression, the huge amounts of vote-buying money swirling around at election time, the ‘executive powers’, the politicisation of the judiciary, and so much more. The USA’s political system is, by any reasonable standards, the worst in the democratic world. But another problem which makes these major deficiencies so intractable is the myopic jingoism that has for so long been a part of the American psyche. Why do so many Americans believe, as if they’ve been hypnotised to believe, that they have the world’s greatest democracy? Is it perhaps because it has been pummelled into them from their first schooldays? I’ve heard from Americans that this is so.
So, who knows how this mess will end? I can’t see anything to hope for in the immediate future.
References
Leave a Reply