Speaker 1: Let's go next to Lahav from Greensboro.
Lahav, welcome.
Speaker 5: Hello.
Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yes, I can.
Speaker 5: Okay.
I'd like to ask about the system of government that we have in the United States, because
in my opinion, you know, like multi-party parliamentary systems, like in Germany or
Denmark.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 5: And other countries.
Well, I think that's a preferable system because mostly because of the multiparty aspect.
I mean, I have issues with the two party duopoly.
I'm curious just what do you think of the idea of a multi-party parliamentary system?
Could it work here?
Speaker 1: Well, whether it could work, I mean, I think the answer is depends how hard
we want to try.
I think it of course, it could work.
I tend to like the multi-party parliamentary system.
You often hear as a stated downside of such a system that it makes it too easy for extremists
to get representation.
So imagine that, you know, 5% of the vote goes to the KKK party, and that means that
they would get 21 or some number of seats in the House of Representatives or something
like that.
But I think there safeguards against that, and I don't think it's as big a risk maybe
as as some people believe it to me.
I also see it as a way of, you know, we talk all the time, how can we break the duopoly?
And often we say, well, you got to get rid of the Electoral College, and then you got
to do ranked choice voting and fix campaign finance, you know, all these different things.
A multi-party parliamentary system, at least at the House of Representatives level, might
be a shortcut to breaking the two party duopoly.
So I'm very positive for a number of reasons on it.
I don't I'm not as knowledgeable about it as someone who maybe lives in such a system.
So there may be downsides I'm not considering.
Speaker 5: Well, one downside and like Israel, is the biggest downside I can think of, because
what they have is each country has a cut off for how for what percentage of the vote you
have to get to a sea of seats in Israel.
It is way too low.
You get like 20 parties in government and an endless cycle of elections.
Complete mess.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 5: Other countries like Germany have a higher cut off.
Now, another issue.
I actually support abolishing the Senate.
Like it's not Democratic in its current form.
I don't even see a better form of it.
And if there was a parliamentary system, I don't see the point of a Senate.
Speaker 1: Oh, I have ranted and raved about the undemocratic nature of the Senate.
I forget the exact numbers, but I think it's something like the senators representing 17%
of the U.S. population can form a majority because of how undemocratic it is.
And I like you when I think about how you fix the Senate.
You're basically making it the House.
So do you.
Yeah, it's the Senate is a mess.
I'm with you.
Speaker 5: And final question, this one is slightly unrelated, but I always get annoyed
with the media when they pretend that both sides are equal.
And this is just another partizan fight and it's really not.
So how do you get that?
Sort of I'll call it the both sides culture out of the media, particularly corporate media.
Speaker 1: You just have to repeat over and over again, this is not a both sides thing.
So when when corporate media has one person that understands and accepts the science of
climate change and another person who denies it, and then you go, well, both sides, you
guys kind of debate and see who convinces who one side is not based in reality.
And so that's just a matter of I think if you if one is against in such a situation,
you have to repeat that there's a false neutrality being created here that's deceptive, but you've
just got to keep repeating it over and over again.
There's no other way.
Speaker 5: More from their perspective.
If someone, a climate deniers, is going to go onto CNN and then the host will announce
that they're a liar, they're not going to actually go on.
So there might be a discreet way to stop these people from actually showing up on cable news.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't think of what it is, but maybe you're right.
Maybe there is a way.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1: My pleasure.
There is Lahav from Greensboro, and that is going to do it for calls today.
We will take calls again.
And I look forward to speaking to many more of you next time.