Democracy Is Dead, Welcome to 'Vetocracy'

The US isn't a democracy anymore. It's a "vetocracy," with a system designed to prevent anyone from doing much of anything, Thomas Friedman argues in the New York Times. The constitution's system of checks and balances "assumes—indeed requires—a certain minimum level of cooperation on major issues," he observes. But today's America is distressingly polarized, and lawmakers' every move is broadcast online or on cable news, "making back-room deals less possible and public posturing the 24/7 norm."

That's especially problematic because new roadblocks, like the Senate's increasingly routine use of the filibuster, have rendered even united majorities impotent. In vetocracies like ours, special interests "can, like a multi-limbed octopus, choke the life out of a political system." We need to clear out the rules holding the majority back and preventing us from making bold decisions. "I know what you're thinking: 'That will never happen.' And do you know what I'm thinking? 'Then we will never be a great country again.'" (More Thomas Friedman stories.)