Mods, please read on before you hit the red button. I think this is the only political thread you don't wanna close.


At the moment the campaigns for the parlement elections in the Netherlands are fully going and it's getting more and more interesting. I am very interested in politics and wonder if there are others who share that interest.

I'd like to ask people from anywhere on earth how the political system works over there? Which ruling bodies exist (parlement, government, etc.), how do people vote and for what, which parties are the most popular, how is the government formed, how is the president or prime minister chosen, etc.

I don't know if anyone else is interested in this so I won't post anything about politics in the Netherlands yet (if no one cares I'd be waisting my time ;) ) but as soon as people show interest I'll tell you one or two things about the Netherlands.

So the only thing I'm asking for is information on HOW countries are controlled and NOT to start a political DISCUSSION which isn't allowed here. No reason to close this then.

Anyone interested?

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Oh! Ok.

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Basically in America, you've got three branches.

A.) The Executive branch. That's our president , basically he can aprove or deny the final word on anything. America elects this official, and he brings a cabinet with him, and a Vice-President.

B.) The Legislative branch. This is broken up into two parts.
-The House of Representatives, this is a group of 435 representatives elected based on population of each state. The higher your state's population is, the more representatives you get to elect.
-The Senate, this is a group of 100 senators who are elected in pairs. Every state gets to elect two senators, regardless of anything.
These two make up the congress. They vote on issues, and each is allowed to vote on any issue raised which is based on laws, taxes, war, or other rights.

C.) The Judicial branch, this is a supreme court. They basically decide on issues which can't be setteled elsewhere.

OK, along with the three branches, each state has it's own three branches, who decide on state issues, which are'nt dealt with on a national level. Each state has a govener, a senate, a house of reps., and a court.

When we vote, we get ballots of various sorts, which have any special issues and the leaders your electing You choose between leaders, and in a national election, each state is given a number, based on it's population. If you state has a small popualtion(Rhode Island, Alaska, Missouri), your number can be as low as 3. If you live in the most heavily populated state, California, your number is 14. When you vote, your ballot is counted, and tabulated as a whole state. Whoever the majority of votes in you state goes to, gets your states number of points. This system is called teh Electoral college.

In America, there are two major political parties.
-Republicans, The majory conservative party, the rebublicans beleive in lower taxes, smaller goverment controll over everything, they beleive that big businesses are the backbone of a strong economy. Generally Republicans are against abortion, and for the death penalty, and usually in favor our second ammendment (the right to bear arms).
-Democrats, The major Liberal party, the demorcrats like to spend tax dollars very frivolously. They often try to overtax citizens. They like to put a lot of money into school systems, they also beleive that workers are the backbone of a strong economy. Their veiws skew tward communisim. They are generally pro-aborition, and against the death penalty, they also, generally, are strong environmental activists.
-Other parties, America has several other parties, a few are the Green Party, a stong liberal party, much like the Democrats; the Reform party, a Party based on a combination of liberal and conservative beleifs; and others such as Constitutionalist Conservative, Communist, Libertairan, and many more. These Parties usually don't get more than 5% of the nation wide votes combined, since the public feels like they'd waste their vote if they voted that way.

Right now, our country is in control by the Republicans, which is ending about a five-ten year reign of Liberalism over our country.

I consider my self a Constitutionalist Conservative, which is very similar to Repulican, but we also beleive in witholding the original interperetation of the constitution, and we're against making ammendments usually.

Congress is actually just another name for the legislative branch.  It doesn't include the Senate only.

Webster's defines congress as:

: the supreme legislative body of a nation and especially of a republic

You know, I don't know if I can even say how it works in Canada.  I don't understand politics in the least.  And I have voted in a few elections but I think I will stop doing that.  It's like, okay I know I'm old enough now, I got that out of my system, but I really don't care or know enough about the government that I would just make for a wasted vote anyway.  We have a Prime Minister I can tell you that.  And presently, not a very good one either.  He should work on his english.  A Canadian PM should be able to speak both languages equally well IMO.

er lets see..

government has 3 main parts to it...municiple, provincial and federal.
municiple deals mainly in affairs dealing wiht the town. Provicial government takes care of all things provicial. A premier is voted for each province and territories. Federal is the supreme government of the land. (obviously) here there is a primeminister which is voted for.

For provincial and federal  there are "parties" that each have differant agendas and they each will put someone in for the premier of each province and their leader goes for the primeminister.
Of the parties theres the Liberals (cretiens government) NDP, block quebecois, PC and the allience. When it comes time to vote for primeminister you can vote for any of the above parties. To determine the provincial premier the same type of thing happens only there can be a differant group representing each differant province. Same thing with municiple governement you will vote for and MP that will represent the government in your area and once again it can be any of these parties.

of course theres still the legislature and the cabinet and stuff...but i dont know enough of that to properly say..id have to look in my text if someone realy wants to know that ..

oh and canada does have a queen just theres no real point..as the governer general (adriean clarkson) does everything for the queen. basicly the governer general looks at all new laws proposed adn makes sure that the publics best interest is in consideration.

hope that makes sense..  

dow i wish i hade a tock it tipes thing i could go for houers i usta watch qusthien peared this is hhen the parliment is in full swing and all the mp are there i know i am weard

mb52 pirty much got it in the way things work thew simpal virshen wel do have a senieat but it is apouineted not voted for that is my number one problem they aprove laws and they are noteven choesien by the ppl but enuf of that if any is intristed i got my one gorverment sysetm i thout useing outher gorverments and take there best points