The Dailies

Word of the Day

Hygge (n., HOO-gah)

Coziness, very roughly. But "coziness" doesn't explain why Danes are some of the happiest people on Earth despite being in a cold country. (We Philadelphia Metro Areans certainly are not right now.) Hygge explains that by not meaning anything in particular but including friends and family, the warm glow of candlelight, enjoying good things, and discussing the big and small things of life. It's more personal behavior, less specific term. As the link says, "hygge means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people."

Gif of the Day

Tags Strong peopleKidsNovelty ridesWhee!Inadvisable Life DecisionsParents, hide your eyes

Link of the Day

American democracy is doomed - Vox

It's been a while since we featured a good long read on this site. Today, we've got one from Vox's Matthew Yglesias with a provocative title.

Yglesias tries to demonstrate that a) Amercain democracy is not working, b) why it's not working, c) it will not work if it continues on its current path, and d) this is everybody's fault. The causes are both personal (bad elected officials) and systematic (the design of the system, the need to stay in office).

Still, Linz offered several reasons why presidential systems are so prone to crisis. One particularly important one is the nature of the checks and balances system. Since both the president and the Congress are directly elected by the people, they can both claim to speak for the people. When they have a serious disagreement, according to Linz, "there is no democratic principle on the basis of which it can be resolved." The constitution offers no help in these cases, he wrote: "the mechanisms the constitution might provide are likely to prove too complicated and aridly legalistic to be of much force in the eyes of the electorate."

In a parliamentary system, deadlocks get resolved. A prime minister who lacks the backing of a parliamentary majority is replaced by a new one who has it. If no such majority can be found, a new election is held and the new parliament picks a leader. It can get a little messy for a period of weeks, but there's simply no possibility of a years-long spell in which the legislative and executive branches glare at each other unproductively.

Vox is certainly a left-leaning site but this is a very good, non-accusatory overview of why things don't work right now. Read and think.

Tags Long readsPoliticsThings Fall ApartAlternative methods of governanceSo...what now?