I do not approve of the concept of a prime minister. When the head of governement automatically has the legislature on his side, you don't get the "checks and balances" system that the US has. There are some good things about the French system, compared to the American system, but having a parliamentary system is not one of them.
I don't disagree. But what would you suggest? Seems to me that while the parliamentary system in place in the UK or Canada or wherever can easily produce a tyranny of the majority (with the first-past-the-post system adding insult to injury), this can be balanced by having two truly complementary houses of parliament, the upper house being elected in some way, directly or indirectly. Obviously one problem in the US is the Two Party System. Binary Bollocks. I'm rather an admirer of the German system. It seems to have all the bases covered. Germany of course is a federation, so you can include that fact in the way a head of state or upper house is selected. Also, I think the German blend of local representation and proportional representation -- with a wise 5% hurdle -- is good indeed. And the fact that there are a host of parties in Germany makes coalitions frequently inevitable. All this militates in favour of something like Rule by Consensus.
