Re: Facebook Account

On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 16:03:08 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

On 11/4/2024 2:59 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:02:43 -0300, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
 

In Brazil you can vote for extreme right, far right, right or
center. There are no left wing candidates for presidency.
In the US you don't even have center ... it's just extreme
right( borderline Nazi/fascist) and moderate right.

 
That's what happens after a military takeover.  The opposing political
party (or parties) tend to evaporate after the takeover.  The
surviving parties then make a deal with the ruling junta that allows
them to continue functioning in trade for their list of members,
supporters, offshore bank accounts, etc.  If they get out of line or
make too much noise, the junta has enough information evaporate them.
 
The US has always had exactly two political parties.  The big
advantage is that neither party want to split their votes between two
or more factions.  That's because neither of the two factions can
deliver enough votes to overthrow the opposing party that remained in
one piece.  There have been independent and third party movements
(i.e. Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996) that might have delivered a
functional third party, but in the end, he couldn't deliver the
required electoral votes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot>
"Perot did not win any electoral votes, but won over 19.7 million
votes for an 18.9% share of the popular vote."
 
Israel has the opposite problem.  Instead of just two parties, it has
about 13 active parties fighting for 120 seats in the Knesset
(parliament):
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Israel#Parties_represented_in_the_Knesset>
There are also 42 active parties that do not have a seat in the
Knesset.  All it takes to obtain a seat in the Knesset is about 1% or
more of the vote.  With 13 active parties, it's rather difficult to
obtain a majority.  The result is a tangle of coalitions, alliances,
informal collusion, back room deals, and sale of votes to highest
bidder, makes the alliances that were responsible for WWI look benign
by comparison.  Nothing gets done in the Knesset without making a deal
with one's worst enemy (which includes a coalition of Arab parties).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_List>
 
Does your right wing military junta look better now by comparison?

All that's sensible in theory, but Brasil hasn't been under
military rule for 40 years. There's a rich participatory
electorate who, as elsewhere, swing in their decisions over
the years, but a military dictatorship this is not.

Sorry.  I know next to nothing about the politics of Brazil and other
south American governments.  Rather than do some more reading, I made
the assumption that no Latin American political leader or regime will
last very long without the support of the military.

However, my rant was about left vs right, not military versus civilian
government.  A military government can be left as in Fidel Castro's
revolutionary government, or right as in various revolts sponsored by
foreign governments and wealthy companies.  Please forgive me for not
providing examples.  Looks like the left is winning in Latin America:
<https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2023/05/18/latin-americas-left-wing-experiment-is-a-warning-to-the-world>
"Across Latin America, 12 of 19 countries are now run by left-wing
governments."


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Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com
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