We've been disusing this in our politics class and have been comparing the Australian system to the American system and in general have come to the conclusion that America isn't a 'great' democracy in comparison. I'm just wondering if anyone agrees, disagrees.
I agree, although it is (was) evolving towards one until
Citizens United and
Shelby County.
To be fair though, Australia had the benefit of hundreds of years of history which allowed it to integrate some of the best bits of electoral systems like group voting, an elected Senate, etc. The United States wasn't really concerned about democracy but the way the system was allowed to evolve to become democratic while still maintaining stability is admirable.
Edit: And Australia doesn't have its own head of state either.
