The Brits know how to do an election night.
We can't do it the same way, because we have a zillion different federal, state, & local offices up for grabs on the same day, plus ballot initiatives & referenda.
But one night with elections to a single legislative house is so pure, it's fun.
UK politics can be grim, but election night there with constituencies being largely ungerrymandered, losers standing next to winners of podiums, and the "election season is 6 weeks, not 2 years" default is incredibly wholesome
also "if/when you lose, there's no lame duck season, the next guy arrives tomorrow at 10am" is a big UK W vs the US system, we should totes get rid of that
Tbf we also have our "ask electors to pick" and "ask congress to count" cosplay, which tbqh we should really move past, because while it's all fun and games as weird cosplay, we've found out to our detriment what happens when folks refuse to dress up and act it out
tomorrow we get my favorite constitutional oddity which is that there's a ~ 1 hour period in which all UK executive authority formally vests in the King
I'm still bullish on the US vs the UK long term, but as an aside, I'll gladly take "we pretend to give this guy total authority but if he tries to use it we'll chop HM Royal Head off again" over "the president is immune from all the crimes, as long as he's abusing his official power during them."
I'm incredibly bullish on America's future. I get it's a bit hard to see these days--the death throes of unpopular authoritarianism is pretty scary and there are real problems in the immediate term--but I definitely think America's best days are still very much ahead.
No. But I sometimes use it as one of my "pwnallthethings conlaw nightmare examples", specifically: "what if the King accepts Sunak's resignation and then just doesn't invite Starmer to form a government"
I love the fact that the losing PMs are in their constituencies, so staff have to start packing so the new folks can move right in while the hand off happens with the monarch. Move ‘em out, move ‘em in, no time to load up boxes with documents…
This is like the peculiar 21st century Canadian habit of fantasizing that the governor-general or lieutenants-governor will block your political opponents from forming government, “for the good of the nation/province.” Technically possible, literally never going to happen.
We don’t even make the electors wear silly robes. You know Britain would have some sort of robe with different types of fur and feathers for each US state. One of their few Ws.
