What if the US had 12 equal population states and a Parliament?

Belgium and the PIIGS undergoing currently dissolved governments say hi. Crisis hit both and poof away their Parliaments go in the end.

It gets worse if you don't have those absolute governments (which are a problem in and of themselves, no political party or entity should have absolute power).

"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."

Funny, Belgium just agreed on a government. Also, even without the government, the King is still keeping it together. W Ill they stay together forever? Not necessarily. But they aren't in any real crisis outside of mere partisanism. Brussels is stable and thats where most of their important business happens. Ireland is recovering, as is Portugal. With Bunga Bunga Guy out of the way, Italy will recover much more smoothly than Greece, and as such Spain is not likely to get in as much danger. Your doom theories are out of date, Tom.

EDIT-

BTW, love the idea of a Parliament, so long as its truely multiparty. As for megastates, that requires more thought since some states could easily merge, others not so much (California suffers the opposite problem and needs to be broken up instead). But overall, I am supportive.

edited 2nd Dec '11 6:24:38 PM by FFShinra

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

That must have happened in the last few days because early this week S & P downgraded Belgium's credit rating precisely because of a lack of government.

"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."

Yesterday, in fact.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

@ Tom. Yes, but their Parliaments did not have absolute majorities - or had a fragmented majority - in their Parliament.

I was not aware Belgium had the only Parliament in the world.

What Thorn said. We're currently enjoying what is, effectively, a hung Congress and Senate. This isn't a strike against parliamentary systems so much as an acknowledgement that a parliamentary system wouldn't begin to fix our problem.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

@ Thorn. Did you not know? Yeah, just this week Britain and France returned to feudalism.