Parliamentary Democracy

It was stated in your editorial (“Bad on the Street, Worse on Capitol Hill,” Aug. 14), that the gridlock now taking place on Capitol Hill was “designed in” by our Founding Fathers and that perhaps, as Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) suggested, America would be better off with a parliamentary system.

However, as pointed out by Jack Weatherford in his book “Indian Givers,” our nation’s legislation was founded directly on the principles of the Iroquois League of Nations in which “the purpose of debate . . . was to persuade and educate, not to confront. Unlike European parliaments, where opposing factions battle out an issue in the public arena, the council of the Indians sought to reach an agreement through compromise.”

The United States doesn’t need to try a parliamentary democracy; our legislators are already behaving as though we have one. Our two political parties seem to control the vote of the individual, whereas our system is meant to function with the individual voting outside of his political party to decide what is best for the nation. Our legislators would be wise to follow the example set by the Iroquois speakers, one good enough to impress the Founding Fathers into modeling our legislative system after it.

NORAH L. SWITZER, Pasadena