>>36339 I hear you loud and clear. At least the political elites of old where well educated.

With the advent of facebook and twitter, the political adversaries pretty much tell each other what they think of their party; gets a tad nasty at times. Most of 'em haven't the slightest idea how the government works and the laws that govern its powers. It's easy to see who was paying attention in class and the extent of their studies. Shit, half of 'em use Velcro because they can't even tie their own shoes.

>>36334 Yes, and even earlier (just after WWII) it was just 1 party that got the most votes. Then in the 90's or early 2000's more parties appeared and the established parties had some members shifting sides. Now, I gotta look it up on wikipedia cause I don't follow it that closely anymore.

"The previous elections in 2012 had resulted in a ruling coalition of his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Labour Party (PvdA). Because the second Rutte cabinet lacked a majority in the Senate, it relied on the support of Democrats 66 (D66), the Christian Union (CU) and the Reformed Political Party (SGP)."

So from 2 major parties in 2012 to 5 parties now with some very conservative parties (CU & SGP).

>>36319 Does your country usually wind up voting for 2 or 3 parties like we do?

>>36306 Sign me up for Dangerous over Morally bankrupt crusade chasing grossly incompetent any day.

>>36319 Damn! Helluva ballot you folks have going there. It's at least honest, concerning what the person represents. Ours just says IND, leaving the voter to investigate who they're voting for.

Yes, one must register to vote. It can be done by a mail-in card or on line. The process is to ensure the voter is within his/her district (not voting for someone that doesn't represent that district), is a U.S. citizen, to more accurately ensure one person doesn't vote more than once and if the name (on the form) isn't from someone in a graveyard (stuffing the ballot box).

>>36314 And ..I'll just redirect you to the wikipedia page on the current parties in the Netherlands, cause there are so many.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Netherlands

Tell me if I'm right, goodgrief. In order to vote in the US you need to be registered first?

>>36312 You'll notice on the ballot I provided.. out beside some of the names there's IND. That stands for Independent Party. Years back, you'd see Green Party, Independent, Socialist, Communist and Libertarian. Guess the language drove away votes. Gotta be politically correct, huh?

>>36312 Folks don't pay much attention to the smaller parties just republican and democratic. They do, however, receive some votes... even the commies and socialists.
Our Representatives (term 2 yrs.) are divided into districts in each state and based on population. Senators (term 6 yrs.) are chosen by state vote and each state has only 2.
Looks like you have a whole lot of names to consider while we have just a few. No one really knows the shmuck, they just vote a party.. either republican or democrat.
The folks that campaign the most are the ones with the most money... lot of times the best person for the job falls thru the cracks because of lack of funds.
I get a few folks knock on my door every 4 years pushing their presidential candidate but they haven't lunged for the nut-sack yet.

>>36310 huh, I never knew that. Lol at the 'Vote for One' parts.

So do all of these people campaign?! You probably can't go shopping without any of these fuckers grabbing you by the balls.

So in the Netherlands we vote separately for the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Provincial States, regional water authorities, municipal councils, and the European Parliament. Although sometimes they do have 2 or 3 smashed together. The European elections are every 5 years, all other elections every 4 years.

>>36307 There are several parties on the ballot but are seldom mentioned. There's even a space for a 'Write-in' at the bottom. One will seldom hear that a person is voting for someone other than the main two parties but it occasionally happens.

The US system is extremely tribalistic, but I think more broadly to the state of US society as a whole. All political parties around the world are tribalistic of course but as you say a multi-party and or proportional representative system would be much better. We essentially only have a 2 party system in the UK, the other parties have no chance of forming a government. It always bothers me that most governments in the UK have only ever represented a minority of voters.

>>36306 The US should ditch the 2 party system and go for a multi-party system. Whoever gets the most votes would become the president (who must have at least 2 years of political experience).
This whole left vs right shit isn't working, it's time for a change.

>>36304 Biden is not much better to be honest, although he isn't anything like as dangerous as Trump. If you watch any of his recent interviews he's clearly in significant cognitive decline. It's sad to see someone who just a few years ago as Obama's VP was quick minded and confident in interviews.

On the upside the sky is blue, the trees are green and the rivers are... ...red?!? Thanks Russia :/

A spark of hope ;)

Sadly very true :/