The prospective candidate who has been floated is Sen. Patty Murray
Floated by who?
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If the feud has been going on for years, it would be interesting to know more about what kinds of things they feuded about.
Most democratic countries in the world have parliamentary systems in which the leader of the majority party (or majority coalition) becomes Prime Minister or Federal Chancellor or whatever the title may be. In fact, in most cases that leader tends to be more powerful than the American President, since s/he has a built in majority in parliament - or else s/he wouldnât be head of government, by definition. And party discipline in parliamentary votes is close to 100%, i.e. whatever the Prime Minister wants usually becomes law.
Now, the election system and the party system would be still another matter. You can have parliamentary systems with basically the same voting laws as the US (e.g. the UK) or you can have proportional representation (e.g. Germany or Israel). Israel has a 2% threshold fĂŒr parliamentary representation, Germany has 5%. This helps to bring about a highly segmented party system in Israel and a much more concentrated system in Germany, since it is much more difficult for German parties to get enough votes. The segmentation of society is also (and even more) important in order to explain the party system, but the rule of thumb still holds that a US/UK system tends to favor a party system with two major parties, while proportional representation leads to more variety in parliament.
A parliamentary system lacks, of course, the checks and balances which the framers wanted in the constitution. So, things are complicated. However, the practical chances for the US to change anything meaningful in this regard are close to zero.
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Schumer is not the right person for the job. He has his nose in the trough of big banks and Wall Street goons with much gusto. Warren would be a much better fit for the job with Patty Murray as whip.
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Blah, blah, blah, he said, he said, he said. This is a change in power. The shivs will come out and both of these men use them with great skill. Once the dust settles, one will be the Minority Leader and the other will still be in the Senate, with both proclaiming theyâre lifelong pals. Next.
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I would go for Murray over Schumer and let her chose the whip. Schumer is a snake.
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@Doremus_Jessup @chigger Ultra-sensitive information guys, sorry canât tell you that.
After Wall St and Israel is there any part of Chuck left to represent the rest of NY & America?
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I think of them as different types of fecal matter. Unique in presentation but equally disgusting and odious.
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To early to say it will be a boring primary season
Fu(k Shumer. If you had to pick one person to move Congress even closer to Citibank, heâd be it.
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What good would it do to have Murray as minority whip? That really doesnât address the issue of ousting Schumer as minority leader.
Sounds like it was floated by Schumer to get rid of his arch-nemesis in the party from the no.2 spot.
Grumpy Old Men
(actually I rather like Sen. Durbin, but I couldnât help myself)
âA parliamentary system like IsraelâsâŠâ Iâve been stunned by Israeli politics since Poli Sci in '82 when I learned that Israel had the most complex system in the world with 27 parties then active. Iâm unnerved by parliamentary systems to begin with, what with the votes of confidence, the called instead of scheduled elections, the complex interplay within and between parties to form a functioning majority, it seems unstable and fragile. Maybe itâs only an American perspective or my own naivetĂ©, but from the outside it seems like the real power would reside in the bureaucracy which knows the leaders come and go. Israel has basically been under siege since its formation in '48, surrounded by enemies, and governance is subject to sudden shifts of wind.
I see the upsides (they have to work together, form coalitions, cobble a cabinet in short order or fail outright, etc.) and the downsides of our system (the GOP are absolute slaves to their worst 30% in a way the Democrats arenât, but the Democratic Party continues to believe that more than half the population has an IQ over 100 â same as anywhere else in the world âhalf the people are, like, stupider than that, duh!â). Wish we could split both of our two parties in half and throw in the Libertarians as tie-breakers.
And here we see why I can say with relish that I am no longer a Democrat.
What? You think âstuffâ like this just started in the last few days or something?
âFertilizerâ like this has been going on ever since 2010, when the Democrats started wandering around with their patented âDeer-in-the-headlightsâ look rather than anything that passed for political or policy alternatives.
Who leads the Democratic Party in Congress is nothing except a cheap political shell game. We all know where the Democrats ought to be looking for âLeadership.â Just as we all know that âLeadershipâ from the Obama White House simply has not happened or will not happen in the six or so months before Obama becomes a seat warmer. At that point, Democratic Party âpolicyâ will be the âproductâ of a campaign machine geared to electing someone else to replace the President turned seat warmer.
No, it should not be this way.
No, it is not Obamaâs âfaultâ that he is a seat warmer.
It is just how the eight year cycle âworks.â
We have a two term President who is effective for all of about six or so years, and then becomes a seat warmer while an alley fight decides the next President.
I find it more and more Ironic that at the foundation of our Constitution, the President was supposed to get one six year term. Thatâs about what we have. The only problem is the politics in the middle and on both ends.
Oh Yeah, about Congress? The Democrats cold hire an Ice cream man to run their Party, in the Senate, and in the House. The only difference is that with an ice cream man running the âPartyâ, Democrats on the âHillâ could at least pick up some real, honest money for a change. But the Democrats would allow the Grumpy Old Party to blackjack the ice cream man and take all the money anyhow.
As to who runs Congressional Democrats now or in the future?
I care not a wit, because it is far too late to care, as it makes no difference who runs the hen house after the foxes have stolen every pullet in sight.
Again.
Schumer is the Senator from Wall Street. Itâs as simple as that.
To be clear: Schumer WILL be the Minority Leader. The only other issue is who gets to be no. 2.
I much prefer Durbin over Schumer. Durbin works quietly behind the scene and has been very effective. On the other hand, Schumer never saw a camera he didnât like especially when itâs pointed at him.
On nearly every issue, Durbin and I agree and Iâm much left of center. His speeches on the floor broadcast by CSPAN are always on the money and he has no compunction in calling a spade a spade. During the financial crises he openly admitted that the banks run the Congress, which is an unwritten rule only violated by Warren. Durbin is much closer to Warren on the issues than Schumer will ever be. And based on Schumerâs own words, he is much closer to Bebe Netanyahu than anyone else in the Senate.
If the choice is between Durbin or Schumer, Durbin is much more qualified.
I find it interesting that while other commentators here have mentioned reasons why Schumer shouldnât be the leader, none of mentioned anything that they can find to object to regarding Durbinâs position on the issues.
I find it interesting that after WWII when we set up the governments of Japan and Germany, we didnât choose our form of gov. but instead gave them parliamentary systems. I think our leaders at the time had come to the conclusion that the parliamentary system was the better of the two systems but at this late date, impossible to implement for the U.S.
A parliamentary system would be a viable alternative for those who consistently complain about our corrupt two party system.