The US NEEDS to become a true multiparty democracy.

This comes from a quote from Brent McKenzie's When Separation of Powers becomes a Suggestion in Fulcrum, where he says:

The Framers assumed ambition would counteract ambition. What they did not anticipate was a political culture in which party loyalty would eclipse national loyalty.

Not true since the Founders understood that political factions, which we now call parties, could pose challenges to the system and had significant debates about them. Some saw them as a natural outcome of a free society. George Washington warned against the dangers of political factions in his farewell address, emphasizing their potential to disrupt national unity.  The contentious election of 1800 with its rivalry between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans proved him correct.

James Madison emphasized the need for a system that controls the influence of factions on governance  in Federalist No. 10. Madison believed that a large republic would help control the influence of factions, as diverse interests would make it difficult for any single group to dominate. Unfortunately, he didn't see the problem with the current duopoly system which allows for control of the political sphere by a small group.

The Constitution does not explicitly mention political factions, despite the founders dislike for them. It was thought that the effects would be controlled through the system of checks and balances. Unfortunately, as we are seeing, those checks and balances are ineffective and quickly eroding until we will see a constitutional show down similar to the English Civil War, where the legislature takes on the Executive branch. Unfortunately, this is something which the US Constitution does not truly address with its system for amending the constitution.

The issues of factionalism, demagoguery, and the balance of power that concerned the founders still plague us today. I would say they are as bad if not worse now than they were at the beginning of this experiment. 

The "Westminster"/Parliamentary system requires that any failure to pass a budget results in new elections. Of Course, it's "Westminster" since Belgium holds the record for the longest time without a government in peacetime, lasting 589 days from April 2010 to December 2011. This period began when Prime Minister Yves Leterme resigned, and no new parliamentary majority could be established despite extensive negotiations. And, as of February 2026, Brussels is experiencing another political stalemate, having gone 542 days without an elected government. This ongoing crisis reflects the challenges of forming a coalition in a bilingual political landscape, where parties often struggle to find common ground.

Yet another reason I'm glad I didn't apply for Belgian citizenship when I was living there, despite speaking all four languages and feeling an affinity for the place. I mean, the beer is the best.

Anyway, Belgium's political deadlock highlights the importance of strong federalism and regional autonomy, allowing local governments to maintain essential services even without a central government. Additionally, it demonstrates the need for political compromise and the potential risks of deep divisions within a nation, which can prolong governance challenges. 

While running a government like a business is generally a bad idea. Competition in this sphere to prevent monopolisation as well as cooperation between similar factions is helpful in preventing the ownership of the government by powerful factions. It's long past time the people took control of their government.

I can't say "took back control" since the system has never been one where the people are properly represented in the legislature. This has never, and will never, happen under the current system.

Bloomberg hypocrisy

The fact that Michael Bloomberg has a 10 million dollar home in the tax haven of Bermuda should be enough to get people to question his sincerity. And just ask a lot of questions in general.

But Bloomie does more in Bermuda than just have a place to bolt to when things get annoying in the Big Apple.

He brings armed guards. That's something that got a lot of attention a while back from the gun bloggers. But now that he is campaigning as the "Gun Violence Prevention" candidate should be discussed.

The Bermuda police didn't carry guns when Bloomberg started bringing armed guards to Bermuda in 2010. Toss in that it is pretty much illegal for private citizens to own guns.

Bermuda is not part of the UK proper, but it is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. But this is pretty much applicable to the issue:

Is it possible to have armed Bodyguards in the UK? 

At present, it is not lawful for any members of the public to carry a firearm, for the purpose of Close Protection. This includes SIA licensed and professionally trained Bodyguards.

Gun control laws are tough in the United Kingdom, a country that prides itself for having one of the lowest rates of gun-related crimes in the world. Since 1997, the private possession of handguns and other weapons classified as firearms (pepper spray, CS gaz and the likes), is banned in the United Kingdom by the Firearms Act 1997 that came into force after the mass shooting at Dunblane Primary School in 1996 that saw the death of 16 school children.

I would add that the Bermuda Police has its on close protection group which is supposed to protect VIPs.

Those are the people who  should be protecting Bloomie.

Unlike the rest of us, Bloomie has special dispensation to bring armed guards onto the Island.

I would like to compare Bloomie's situation to that of Charles Stein. Stein was
a former police officer in San Fernando, CA. He was also the bodyguard to Teddy Kennedy.
Stein was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police when he arrived at a Senate office building metal detector on 7 January 1986, just hours before Kennedy was to leave on his trip to South America.  Stein identified himself as Kennedy's bodyguard, told a guard he had weapons in his briefcase and asked where he could check them.

Stein was arrested.

the reason I mention this case is that one person said that "a lot of highly visible executives, celebrities and politicians, the majority take armed guards with them everywhere they go, due to kidnap and extortion risks...The armed and trained security guards who pass all sorts of background checks to protect their clients."

While that may be the case, those armed and trained security guards still have to obey the laws of the jurisdiction where they are operating.

On the other hand, being the 12th richest person in the world can buy dispensation from the laws the rest of us have to follow. I would also add that Bloomie goes to Bermuda because that's a place where the wealthy can walk around and no one will harass them. His Bermuda bolt hole is close to that of Ross Perot (another rich scoff law) and Silvio Berlusconi.

Anyway, it seems that the real message here is that there is one law for the rich and another for the rest of us.

AHoy! Who are the Local Right Wing Blogs on the ALEC Payroll?

The following is an indicator of how effective all the hoo-hah about ALEC really is; there are a number of measures of effectiveness, besides how many corporations are fleeing the sinking pirate ship.

Fundamentally, my objection is to having non-citizens, special interests, corporations paying off legislators in direct and indirect ways writing the legislation of this state, often nowhere near our legislatures.

The people we elect should be working for us - NOT THEM.

ALEC is not honest, nor have the right wing blogosphere been honest, about ALEC -  not about who it is, what is does, or how much money is involved.  Corruption is when our government - public office - is hijacked by getting legislators to pass legislation that benefits THEM, at our expense.
And that is what is happening over and over and over.  Not original bills, not bills by Minnesotans for Minnesotans.  Bill after bill has been introduced and continues to be introduced that is written somewhere else, by someone else, to benefit someone other than the state of Minnesota.  That is inherently corrupt.  When it is done so secretively, so utterly without full and honest disclosure, it is the worst kind of deceit on the part of our legislators.
So, it is with great delight I post the following, and with keen interest that I will be watching to see who the ALEC apologists are that try to spin a factually dishonest story to their readers on the right.  Some of those bloggers are clever enough to have gotten some form of payoff for their dishonesty.  Others are just so eager to be one of the insiders in the right wing politics, hoping maybe someday to advance to party hack, or stooge in a comfy and lucrative patronage position, they'll parrot anything they're told without verifying if it is true or not.
Arrrrggggggggggghhh.  Yes!  We have the latest addition to the pirate theme cast of characters.  We have the Corp-o-RATs, we have the pirate crew of politicians, we have the hostage victim thrown overboard aka John Q. Public.........and now we have the pirate parrots in the blogosphere - let's just watch and wait, to see who they are!

Here is the latest news release tracking the ALEC scramble through their rigging - their rigging of our legislatures, but the play on nautical terms is apt!  You can recognize the right wing blog parrots - the term echo-chamber was getting tired and worn - by the failure to present accurate information, replacing it with ideology and spin.  Arrrrrgggh, Matey!

It would be more amusing if they weren't helping to rip us off, and promote corrupt government.  The more birdbrained among them work for peanuts...or crackers?....or for nothing but a little hope of advancement and a pat on the head.

From PR Watch News:

ALEC Sends Out an SOS to Breitbart Bloggers

by Rebekah Wilce — April 18, 2012 - 7:52am

Shortly after issuing a press release announcing that it was disbanding its "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" after 30 years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) held a training for the right-wing blogosphere.

ALEC Director of External Relations Caitlyn Korb spoke yesterday at a Heritage Foundation "Bloggers Briefing," begging conservative bloggers for help while prepping "a very aggressive campaign to really spread the word about what we actually do." Korb appears to be a new ALEC employee who recently worked for the Cato Institute. Both ALEC and Cato have received funding from Koch family foundations. The Heritage Foundation is an ALEC member.
The "Bloggers Briefing," which was started by Heritage's Rob Bluey and "a dozen conservative online entrepreneurs" six years ago, was broadcast online on "Breitbart TV," a project of the late Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart's team of bloggers and apparatchiks most recently gained notoriety for getting U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod fired. Breitbart released a clip of a speech given by Sherrod deliberately edited to create the false impression that she was prejudiced against white farmers. Her actual speech was a personal tale rejecting prejudice. Sherrod was later offered resinstatement by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, with apologies.

"We Haven't Been the Subject of Many Headlines"

The blogger briefing was in response to an effective campaign by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and allies to convince ALEC corporate funders to drop the organization due to its extreme agenda, an agenda made apparent when CMD published over 800 ALEC cookie cutter "model" bills in the summer of 2011.
Panic in the ALEC camp was evidenced in recent days by a series of increasingly defensive press releases, which included whoppers like ALEC supports "transparent, accountable government." (The ALEC origin of bills moving in state legislatures is rarely disclosed.)
Korb briefed the friendly audience by handing out a new ALEC "Frequently Asked Questions" giving bloggers the ALEC party line. She noted that they might not have heard of ALEC because "we haven't been the subject of many headlines in the last 35 years."
It is not surprising that ALEC has not gotten much ink. ALEC operates behind closed doors and keeps many members of the press and the public from attending its meetings.
ALEC's new FAQ is riddled with errors, including:

• "The potential solutions discussed at ALEC focus on free markets, limited government and constitutional division of powers between the federal and state governments." It is hard to discern what voter suppression bills, tax breaks for big tobacco, bans on unionization, protections for companies whose products injure or kill, and "Stand Your Ground/Kill at Will" laws have to do with free markets.
• "The organization respects diversity of thought; it is a non-partisan resource for its members, which include more than 2,000 Republican and Democratic state legislators." Diversity of thought apparently refers to Republicans talking to Republicans. Although touted as "nonpartisan," when CMD launched ALEC Exposed, out of 104 legislators in leadership positions in ALEC, only one was a Democrat. It's hard to believe that ALEC phone briefs on redistricting are totally nonpartisan.
• "Unlike in many private sector groups that offer model legislation, elected state legislators fully control ALEC's model legislation process." As ALEC's public "Task Force Operating Procedures" (PDF, p. 8) and other documents reveal, corporate members vote alongside legislators in ALEC task forces.
• "Each state legislator and their constituents then decide which solutions are best for them and their states." For the most part, constituents have no way of knowing that corporations wrote or approved ALEC legislation behind closed doors.

ALEC's PR Counter-Offensive

Korb outlined ALEC's PR counter-offensive. She told bloggers that ALEC will launch a website called "I Stand with ALEC" in the next few days. The phrase is familiar to Wisconsinites, as it tracks the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) campaign on behalf of the embattled governor, whose slogan is "Stand with Walker." AFP is also an ALEC member.
Korb referenced the coalition-building and outreach being spearheaded by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR, another ALEC member) and asked the bloggers for "any and all institutional support."
Korb pleaded for help on social media: "We're getting absolutely killed in social media venues -- Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest (I didn't even know Pinterest was a forum for a lot of political opposition, but now it is) -- so any and all new media support you guys can provide would be so helpful, not just to us but to average people who don't know much about this fight but are seeing us get really heavily attacked with very little opposition."
The use of such Twitter hashtags as #ALECexposed and, more recently, #dumpALEC, has multiplied exponentially in the last few weeks.
ALEC has a Facebook page where it posts its news releases and what little favorable press it receives. There is also a new Pinterest board called "Anti-ALEC Comments" that documents many of the negative comments ALEC staffers delete from its Facebook page. The Facebook pages of corporate members are being swarmed with comments about ALEC.

Corporate Funders on the Run

ALEC is playing defense due to the fact that, almost every day, another ALEC member corporation and funder decides to quit. With Blue Cross Blue Shield's announcement yesterday that it was pulling out of ALEC, the number of companies that have decided to cut ties with ALEC grows to 11. The list also includes Mars Inc., Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Intuit, McDonald's, Wendy's, American Traffic Solutions, Reed Elsevier and Arizona Public Service. CMD and other groups are now urging State Farm, Johnson & Johnson and AT&T to reconsider their membership with ALEC.

Florida is the Latest State Trying to Get Their Legislators out of Corrupt ALEC

Bill Gates, wearing his pirate
hat, accompanied by
unidentified pirate Parrot

Progress Florida joins Progress Texas, Progress Iowa, and Progress Missouri in trying to get their conservative legislators off the corrupt corporate special interest boat.

From the Palm Beach Post:

ALEC quits gun policy, lefties want more

by Dara Kam | April 18th, 2012

It isn’t enough that the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, has backed down from Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law after spreading it around the country, some left-leaning groups say.
Now they want lawmakers to quit the group as well. Progress Florida has launched a statewide campaign urging its supporters to tell legislators to “disavow the group’s extremist and secretive influence on Florida law making.” Other national groups are urging state lawmakers and more businesses to do the same.

The Corp-o-rats that fund ALEC to the tune of $20 million dollars are fleeing their sinking ship, like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation that was nominally on board, pun intended, for philanthropic reasons, but where there was also access to push their software to schools.
Corruption is defined as the use - and abuse - of public office for private gain.  Nothing personifies that calculated and sustained corruption on the scale of ALEC.  Legislators get perks, they get cushy high paying jobs when they leave office (or are thrown out by voters) in exchange for selling out their constituents.  They get fat donations to buy their votes; they get PAC money beyond what they can receive as individual donations.
Nationwide, legislators paid in $250,000 to that $20 million paid by corporations for ALEC activities.  In some cases the exclusively conservative, effectively only Republican legislators rewarded for secret, often out of state meetings with their Corp-o-rat paymasters was at the taxpayer expense.  Nothing like soaking John Q. Public for the costs of serving the whims of the special interests.
Corporations get big profits, low taxes, lax regulation, carte blanche to enact any special sweetheart deal they want. The conservative legislators help them get it, in exchange for getting what they want.

The only people not represented at that legislative table is YOU the voters.  You don't get to sit, to speak, to listen or to watch any part of the drafting of the legislation they concoct, and you aren't informed when they pass that ALEC legislation in your own state.  All YOU the voters do is pay for it. In response to public attention, an increasing number of the Corp-o-rats are leaving the sinking ALEC ship. Shouldn't we encourage our legislators to abandon ALEC as well, and require them either to serve the interest of the public, the citizens they were elected to serve - or tell them to leave too?