Obama adviser and CNN hack Fareed Zakaria claims the parliamentary systems of government is superior to America’s presidential system

communist-news-networkI often wonder if far left cranks like Obama adviser are just in this country so they can bitch and moan about things. If they were in their country of origin (in Zakaria’s case India), or others who love Cuba so much, they wouldn’t be given these freedoms to go on the air and whine about the country’s “system.” On his show that might draw 20 views on a good day, Zakaria whined about how the parliamentary systems of government is so superior to America’s presidential system. Newsbusters posted the video.


ZAKARIA: This brought to mind my years in political science grad school and an essay by a famous Yale scholar, Juan Linz, who said that parliamentary systems are superior to presidential systems because they allow for greater stability and purposeful action. In a parliamentary system, he contended, the legislature and the executive are fused so there is no contest for national legitimacy and power.

So a Spanish sociologist and political scientist thinks parliamentary systems are superior to presidential ones. Does that mean he’s right?

A 1993 paper written by professors at the University of Notre Dame and the University of California at San Diego took a critical view of some of Linz’s conclusions.

Experts on both sides of the aisle could have a marvelous debate about which system is better and more stable, but ours seems to be working quite well.

Of course, not according to Zakaria:

ZAKARIA: Think of David Cameron in England. He is the head of the coalition that won the election, head of the bloc that has a majority in parliament, and head of the executive branch as Prime Minister.

Remember the political battle surrounding the debt ceiling. It’s actually impossible in a parliamentary system because the executive controls the legislature. There could not be a public spectacle of the two branches of government squabbling or holding the country hostage.

In the American presidential system, in contrast, you have a presidency and a legislature, both of which claim to speak for the people. As a result, you always have a contest over basic legitimacy. Who is actually speaking for and representing the people?

In America today, we take this struggle to an extreme. We have one party in one house of the legislature claiming to speak for the people because theirs was the most recent electoral victory. And of course you have the president who claims a broader mandate as the only person elected by all the people.

Hey Fareed. No one’s stopping you from going back to India, where they have that “superior” parliamentary systems of government.

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August 21, 2011 · Filed Under CNN, Liberal Media Bias


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