[forum] A Call For Open Governance Of X Development

[Sven Luther]

On Sat, Mar 22, 2003 at 11:19:06PM +0000, Keith Whitwell wrote:
> >   I think Daniel's example would be better if Americans were
> >demanding the right to chose the Prime Minister of France.
> >While the Americans have a "vested interest" in who the
> >French prime minister is, they shouldn't have a say in it.
> >I think this is the difference, as David Wexelblat put it,
> >between a democracy and a republic.  Not every body gets
> >to vote.  This isn't a free-for-all.  The prime minister 
> >of France isn't elected for the good of the world community.
> >He is elected by eligible French citizens for the good of France.
> 
> Actually I think prime ministers are like the 'house majority leader' in 
> the US -- they're not directly elected by the populace, but are eg. a 
> congressman selected by whichever party holds the majority in the house.

In france, it is the president who selects the prime minister, and the
prime minister who select his governement. The parliament has a right to
repudiate (or however you say that in english) him when he does wrong,
and the president can also choose a new president.

> So, nobody voted for Tony Blair, except of course the people living in his 
> electorate, wherever that is.  But the election was run making it clear 
> that if Labor won power overall in the commons, that Tony would be PM.
> 
> And who is the French PM anyway?  It's some elevated beurocrat who doesn't 
> make the news outside of France.  You're thinking of Chirac, who is the 
> President, and was directly elected after a close call (with someone who 
> GWB might have liked better) in the first round of voting.

Mmm, i am not sure that is fair for the US, and anyway, Le Pen is
virulantly anti-american, and even went to irak himself prior to the
war.

Friendly,

Sven Luther