Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) filed articles of impeachment against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wednesday, accusing him of abusing the powers of his office and undermining public health, putting Americans’ lives at risk.
He “has got to go,” Stevens said in a video announcing the impeachment articles. In an accompanying press statement, she said Kennedy, who rose to prominence as an ardent anti-vaccine activist, “has turned his back on science, on public health, and on the American people—spreading conspiracies and lies, driving up costs, and putting lives at risk.” She called him the “biggest self-created threat to our health and safety.”
It is very unlikely that an impeachment push will gain traction in the Republican-controlled Congress. No other Democratic lawmakers are backing the articles.
Westminster-style parliament is far less “winner takes all” than the US system though. We don’t even really have an executive branch in the sense that the US does, and we have many more levers that can be pulled to topple an abusive government - including by royal decree.
In the US, if an official needs to be removed, they have to be impeached and convicted by their peers, after which they are removed and depending on what their position/home state/etc, they may leave a vacant seat or have a replacement appointed until the next elected. However in the case of the president, there is a clear line of succession, and it it virtually guaranteed that everyone in that line is ideologically aligned.
In Canada, there is a recall process that is initiated by the voters as a petition, put to a vote by the people, and if successful, that person is immediately removed and a by-election is called.
In the US, if the government can’t pass a budget, it shits itself and shuts down. In Canada, if the government can’t pass a budget, parliament is dissolved and there’s a new election - but everything else just keeps running based on the last successful budget.
Sounds like the US has a shitty system and they should improve it. None of that is relevant to actually developing a third party however. There is 1 single president but (theoretically) needs support of the House and Senate. Recalls and budgets are irrelevant to the issue of only having 2 parties.
No, I was not encouraging people in the US to vote 3rd party in the last election. But now is an excellent time to start working on some 3rd party candidates for 2028.
Officially we’re down to three, and the trend over the last decade is not promising:
It is a shitty system but fixing it is even harder because Constitutional amendments need 38/50 states to agree.