Hey guys! School started so I have been very busy.
But I do have a moment now to interject (I did say earlier that I majored in PoliSci - and that I currently teach gov't right? ).

You guys probably wouldn't like a parliamentary system any better than what we have. From my studies of the Italian and German systems in college I remember concluding that they suck. Lots of politics involved in creating and maintaining coalitions/gov'ts. The proportional representation those gov'ts allow seems cool, but on a national scale it is really meaningless - the major parties still dominate.

Spiff, the main reason why there are only two major parties is the winner-take-all electoral system. The party with the broadest appeal wins all of a states electors (in the case of the Presidential election) rather than a percentage of electors corresponding to the election returns. Same for Congressional districts: the Greens, Commies and Libertarians will always get assed out unless they concentrate in one area.

And from what we see of term limits here in California... bad idea. Sounded good, I think I may have even voted for them years ago, but in practice it has left us with musical chairs in the state legislature, increased cronyism as politicians are forced out and looking for new work, a bunch of amateurs who look to their handlers and lobbyists for guidance, and a lack of vision (nobody is in office long enough to get things, big things, done). Bad, bad, bad.

What I like about a longer term for the President (and not necessarily limiting him to just one term - although that may not be a bad idea) is that he will be better insulated from political pressures for a longer period of time. Clearly many presidential actions are geared toward garnering support for re-election.

A benevolent dictatorship with periodic accountability to the people, not the politicians, special interest groups, etc... would be ideal for a country this size. Japan is toying with the idea of direct democracy (everybody voting on every issue on-line); want to bet how that experiment will work out?