Our dubious Constitution (continued)

[Frank Cross]

I can see the advantages of a removal system, depending on how it works.
But I think presidential government is better than parliamentary 
government, and I think the empirical evidence supports this for advanced 
nations (perhaps not developing nations).

How would you structure such an interim removal system in a presidential 
system?  I doubt that even a relaxed simple majority impeachment system 
would be used much, but it might be a start.  Would the vice president take 
over?  Or would we call a new election?  Or have some other method for 
picking the new president?


At 11:46 AM 3/18/2006, Sanford Levinson wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
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>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C64AB3.E18A08E9"
>
>I note, FWIW, the lead editorial in this week's Economist, which basically 
>calls for Tony Blair to step down unless he truly believes that he can 
>push through some of what the Economist (and presumably Blair) believe are 
>"necessary" reforms.  Otherwise, they argue, he should give Gordon Brown 
>the chance to establish his own personal as PM before the next election.
>
>The main point I would make is that there is no tone of crisis at all in 
>the editorial.  It's a sober analysis of the kind of leadership the UK 
>(and the Labour Party) need in the next couple of y ears and a tentative 
>conclusion that he is unlikely to provide it.  One can agree or disagree, 
>but it's "par for the course" in the UK.  And, presumably, at some point 
>Labourites themselves might start initiating a change in leadership, not 
>least because Blair's most recent legislation, on education, got 
>throughonly with Tory support.  I'm not at all sure that British 
>parliamentarianism ,coupled with sovereignty-limiting membership in the EU 
>(and, of course, recognition of the authority of the European Court on 
>Human Rights), doesn't provide an optimal solution.  Given all of the 
>emphasis on American states as "little laboratories of experimentation," 
>it's a real shame that none of them decided to go a parliamentary route 
>and that only Nebraska has demonstrated the possibility of an alternative 
>to bicameralism.
>
>sandy
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**********************************************************

Frank Cross
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station B6000
Austin, TX 78712-1178