By Tom Claridge
The United States and Canada have the same “parent,” the United Kingdom, and over the years have been great neighbours, with their inhabitants enjoying two forms of democracy, one as the result of a revolution and the other a consequence of evolution.
The fathers of the republic opted for a unique form of government. Tired of their colonial status and the behaviour of George III, the British monarch who was responsible for taxation of the rebellious thirteen colonies, they determined to have a republic with a president, a two-house Congress and an independent judiciary.
Unfortunately, the emergence of political parties has led to situations where little or nothing was accomplished unless one party won the presidency and both the Senate and House of Representatives. That was one reason why president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was able to pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression and another, Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Interstate highway system, and why Ba