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The Czech capital will be led by a 'Pirate' mayor for the next four years. The three coalition partners responsible for choosing the mayor have agreed that Prague's new mayor will be Zdeněk Hřib, who is 37 years old and current leader of the Czech pirate party. One of the first goals will be to focus on ridding the city of its dependence on a limited amount of IT suppliers, hopefully leading to lowered expenses and greater efficiency. Another goal is to facilitate digitization of some currently paper-based government services. The party has also been aiming at fighting corruption, reforming tax regulations, and overhauling the country's copyright legislation.
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Czech Pirate Party's Leader, Zdeněk Hřib, Will Be Mayor of Prague for the Next Four Years
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Tax reform means "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind
the tree."
-- Russell Long
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 31 2018, @12:23AM (7 children)
Your market research is flawed. Neither "Democrat" nor "Republican" charms more than 50% of US population so I don't think "Pirate" would be a deal breaker.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday October 31 2018, @12:39AM (6 children)
A Pirate Party can succeed in parliamentary systems where there are multiple parties and even a small proportion of the votes can earn you seats. But it's unlikely to do well in the U.S.
"Pirates" could co-opt one of the two major parties, like President Trump did, or like Bernie Sanders tried to. But neither party seems like a good fit. Both are pro-surveillance and don't care much about civil liberties. The Democrats have deep ties to the MPAA, and the MPAA is courting Republicans more aggressively these days:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywoods-top-lobbying-group-tilts-684220 [hollywoodreporter.com]
https://variety.com/2018/politics/news/mpaa-gop-fundraiser-charles-rivkin-1202794531/ [variety.com]
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2018&strID=C00139519 [opensecrets.org]
This story is about a Mayor. Maybe Pirates could try their hand at local elections. They could find somewhere friendly to independent candidates [wikipedia.org] (for the left-leaning, aim for San Francisco instead).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 31 2018, @01:09AM (5 children)
The problem in the US is not first past the post, it's the fact that the people who really run the place don't want more than two parties, and never have.
The UK has first past the post voting, and eight parties currently elected. What they don't have is gerrymandering and unlimited corporate money.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 31 2018, @04:04AM (2 children)
Yeah, and the right wingers still win! The UK is no better off than the US, both ships are sailing in the same direction as one flotilla. We are dealing with a psychological problem, not political. Psychology explains the rise of fascism much better than politics ever could. And most of the problem can be traced backed to not letting little children play with themselves.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 31 2018, @08:24AM (1 child)
You say it like politics could ever explain something.
Even the rambling of Eth-F can explain anything better than politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 01 2018, @12:35AM
Oooh, come on now. That's a bold claim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 31 2018, @09:37AM (1 child)
so the system that makes it easier to keep 2 parties in place is not the real problem?
Dream on.
Yes, I agree it is not he only problem, but it sure helps.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 01 2018, @12:39AM
First past the post voting is the worst possible way to find the will of the people, if that's your goal, but in the US' money and gerrymandering are much bigger problems.
The fact is, you have two state sanctioned political parties. It's no different to the way the old communist bloc countries used to ban all political parties, except in the US you're absolutely free to form as many parties as you want. They will just be ignored until they go away.
That's one of the ways your overlords rule you.