Democracy and Prejudice in the WW (WAS: Why do 'purebloods' hate Muggles?)

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50592


You know, your responses had never, ever crossed
my mind. Like, not even remotely.  If it would be 
alright, I'd like to follow up with a few questions, for 
clarification and my own enlightenment. ;-)


Heidi writes:

"...in the UK, there is no clear separation of legislative and 
executive branches of the government; the executive branch is, 
structurally, a committee of the legislature, but because of party 
discipline, the cabinet, as leadership of the majority party, 
controls Parliament, while being answerable to it. (from 
Infoplease.com). 

The UK is a democracy, however because the members of Parliament are 
elected by the people."


And Tom humbly asks:
So, what you're suggesting is that Fudge is
the apointed head of the party of lawmakers 
that currently holds the majority in the wizard
'parliament,' which ultimately would be an elected
body that is answerable to the denizens of the WW?

Follow-up question: does that mean that the 
appointed head of the party would likewise be 
responsible for appointing the officers of the 
other departments (i.e. Arthur Weasley and so forth?)

And one more: we haven't heard of any reference 
at all to any kind of legislative body in connection 
with the MoM. All we hear about is the immense 
beaurocracy and deluge of offices and committees 
that the MoM appears to be. Would this be standard 
fare for the UK government? I mean, even here in the
states we hear about the Parliament and so forth - 
in fact (and only marginally OT) I just read a 
bit this morning about Blair and the House of 
Lords. But we haven't heard anything about any of 
this in canon.


Heidi writes:
"...given that in the UK, elections only need be held
every five years, unless the party in power calls for an election at
another time, and given that in the UK the election cycle is 
incredibly brief compared to what we have in the US, it would 
surprise me if we see more than one in canon. If that."

And Tom responds:
I'm still a little confused about the election
process - wouldn't we have heard *something* about
an election, any election, at some point in reference
to the Fudge/Crouch Minister of Magic bit in GoF?


Heidi points out:
"In the UK, prefects and the Head Boy and/or Girl
are generally chosen by the instructors and/or administration. While
there are some schools that now have election of prefects, or other
systems in place, the traditional setup allowed only for selection by
those in authority."

And Tom asks:
Is this the case in private schools only, or also 
in the public schools as well? I guess I betray my own
position here, as a result of the U.S. public school
system, but in my schools we worked firmly from a 
position of student body elections. There was not even
consideration of administration appointees to head the
student class. We would have laughed at them. I figured
that that's why no one seems to have any respect for the
Prefects.


-Tom (who is increasingly curious about this, and who
is simultaneously embarrassed that he revealed his 
ignorance such an open-mouth-insert-foot manner.)  ;-)