Essay Sample on if America Had a Parliament

Introduction

The United States is considered one of the nations with the most stable political systems. The system is unique where political leaders are selected from just two parties and the nation lack influential parliament unlike most other nations across the globe. In a parliamentary system, the citizens elect the leaders drawn from different parties who in turn choose one of them as the prime minister to head the government. This form is in sharp contrast to the presidential system such as the one in the US where the president is directly elected by the citizens or Congress to head the executive arm of the government (Surbhi). Parliaments are associated with an increased democratic space that eventually heightens accountability of the leaders especially from the ruling party that boasts of the executive powers. A powerful parliamentary system is a more effective form of governance with numerous benefits to a country.

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The parliamentary system allows a link between the executive and legislative arms of the governments (Murse). However, with the current state in the US, the party that wins the election appears to take everything rendering the losers insignificance in the management of the country yet even the losers represent millions of people in the country (Tomasky). The two parties in the US appear to be too weak, and a powerful parliamentary system would be more effective. Strain proposes a parliamentary system with more parties. The parties would compete and field candidates for parliamentary seats under distinct parties. This intervention will results in elected citizen's representatives even in the government to represent their ideas (Strain). With one party system as the one seen in the US, debates concerning government activities are internal, but with many parties in the parliament, government activities would require first to be passed in a parliament which is made up of representatives of many parties. The passing of motions requires majority from the parties, and since it is highly unlikely for a single party to have the majority, the participation of other parties for ideal negotiations will be necessary (Gaille).

If the US had an effective parliament system of government, various benefits would be documented. The benefits would be increased accountability of the executive and an enhanced balance of powers through negotiation democracy. The elected leaders participate in the sittings of the house where there no single party that can make decisions without the participation of other parties. A parliamentary system would allow calling of a new election by the public in case they feel that the person they elected is not meeting their needs. In the current system of government in the United States, recall of elected leaders is limited since not all leaders can be recalled even when the electorates are not satisfied (Gaille). If the US had a parliamentary system, government would be headed by a prime minister or a president chosen by the parliament representative of the majority party. This means that the members have the powers to recall and elect a new leader even without necessarily subjecting the citizens to a new election. The citizens can also petition a specific parliamentarian who fails to perform their duties according to the law or fail to deliver the expected results to the electorates.

Some political scientists have suggested that the parliamentary system of government can be used to eliminate the partisan perspective seen in the US (Murse). The current government is party based where the ruling party is not questioned on the activities adapted to govern the country. Although Congress may be dissatisfied with some decisions, they may not raise their concerns due to fear of disciplinary actions from the party that sponsors their position which is the government party. A nation that has a parliament system of government will have two sides. One side will be the government side with the majority of parliament seats while the other side will be the opposition or the minority side. While the government side is tasked with developing policies to run the country, the other divide keeps the government on the check (Murse). In this notion, if the US was using the parliamentary system, it means that the some policies implemented by the government after the goodwill of the Congress would have faced objection the elected leaders. Although the minority or opposition side is characterized by opposing the government side, they are cases where they support the government on the aspects they feel are for the benefit of the public. In essence, the work of the opposition is to hold the government accountable for the benefit of the general public.

Conclusion

Current America lacks a parliamentary system. Enacting laws to incorporate the system will increase democracy in the country with more parties allowed to participate in the election and subsequently in the government through the legislative arm of the government. This will allow two sides of the government/majority and opposition/minority which will keep the government in check. The public will feel more represented by the system as opposed to the current system where the majority party takes all the powers.

Works Cited

Gaille, Brandon. "17 Top Pros and Cons of Parliamentary Democracy" Brandon [Gaille], May 24.2018, https://brandongaille.com/17-top-pros-and-cons-of-parliamentary-democracy/. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.

Murse, Tom. "How Does a Parliamentary Government Work?" Thoughtco, March 30. 2018, https://www.thoughtco.com/how-parliamentary-government-works-4160918. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.

Strain, Michael. "Let's Think About a U.S. Parliament." Bloomberg, Jan 22. 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-22/let-s-think-about-a-u-s-parliament. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.

Surbhi, S. "Difference Between Parliamentary and Presidential Form of Government."Key Differences, Dec 7. 2017, https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-parliamentary-and-presidential-form-of-government.html. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.

Tomasky, Michael. "If America Had a Parliament". New York Times, Dec 7. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/opinion/america-politics-parliament.html. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.