Ok folks there are changes coming

[nadinbrzezinski]

to the Mexican Constitution. I cannot find a damn article in English, but if even half of the ten changes that Calderon has proposed, will radically change Mexico in ways that many people outside of Mexico will not understand.

Among other changes... no longer have strict term limits, sufragio efectivo no reelecion. Yes, they will allow for reelection, if this passes, all the way to 12 years, consecutive that is. In Mexico the term limits are ONE term, which has its lovely issues, for those who want them.

They also want people to be able to run as citizens, not through the parties.

One of them also is that a Presidential Candidate does not get over 51 % of votes during the election, the two top ones go to the second round.

Now as a historian that actually specialized in Mexican History and that grew up in Mexico some of this will modernize Mexican democracy and the people. And yes, that will create some conflicts between the two distant neighbors. Keep your eyes open... a revolution is coming, but not quite in the US.

In Spanish

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/646229.html

[Cant trust em]

1. I wonder what the effects of Run offs would be in US national elections.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Hell proportional representation

would bring the US to the late nineteenth Century...

:-)

Some of the ten points I am going EGADS... three of them, the rest... would be great. And it is fun to agree with the top current Mexican Historian.

[Ignis]

3. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Granted, parliamentary democracy has its own flaws, but it sure would be nice to see proportional representation, instant run-offs, and coalition building, wouldn't it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Mexico, for example, does have proportional

representation, and it is not a Parliamentary system. It would break the two dominant parties in the US after two elections I am betting, why they do not want it.

They will cut down the number of both senators and congress critters, keeping a 60\40 ratio of proportional and plurinuminal representation.

Also if a party does not get 4% of votes (currently it is 2%) they will not be able to keep their registration.

I know I am too much of an egghead... at times.

[Ignis]

5. Yes. No reason to rock the boat...

...when the status quo works in your favor, right?

The simple addition of instant run-offs to our elections would dramatically change the political landscape in America. I think (and hope) that it would result in a more accurate representation of the left-middle alignment of the average American voter, but I'm disinclined to think that I'll ever see such a change during my lifetime.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Just like this change

it would require a dramatic change to the US Constitution... and doing Amendments.

[Ignis]

11. I can't even imagine a new Amendment in this climate.

It seems that we've become so calcified in our "respect" for the Constitution that we're afraid to change anything--be it for good or ill.

That being said, perhaps it's a good thing, as the only Amendment I can imagine passing in the current climate is a DOMA or an anti-choice one. :(

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. I hate to say it...

this change we can believe in sounds quite hollow...

While the country where I was born I have a RIGHT WINGER proposing a true revolution. Yes this is that dramatic... kind of Nixon going to China. I will have to completely revise my opinion of President Calderon just for proposing this, even if a few of these things pass.

[Ignis]

17. True, there's not a lot of triangulation here, just real change.

And it's refreshing, despite the source.

[Cleita]

6. Could you post a link to the article for those of us who can read Spanish? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. One of the many

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/646229.html

[Swamp Rat]

8. Sí, yo quisiera leerlo también.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. You got it

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/646229.html

[Swamp Rat]

13. já he leido

:D :hi: :hug:

[Cleita]

14. Muchas gracias!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. De nada, I also added it to the OP

[bobthedrummer]

10. Meanwhile ours is still lying in the street bleeding out...