[EM] Stability WITHIN legislatures

[ECOLING at aol.com]

>In parliamentary systems, the opposite tends to occur- the mass parties
>of
>the left and right (who have the blessing, like it or not, of the smaller
>more extremist parties) seek the support of small centrist groups. The
>most obvious case of this is in Germany, where the Centre-Left is in
>coalition with the Left-Centre, while the smaller "ex-communist" left
>party looks on.

I should have written:

The major near-center parties 
tend to exclude the other nearest MAJOR party competitor.
(I guess I took it for granted that tiny center parties are not considered
real competitors when their size is dwarfed by the major
parties on each side of them.)
Co-operation with a smaller center party does not contradict that
observation.  However it is a bit better than the worst scenario.

BUT CAN WE GET MORE DISCUSSION OF WHAT IS WRONG
with giving legislatures freedom to structure themselves however they will?
Meaning however some largest organized plurality wishes to do it?

That was the point of my original message.
I don't want to get sidetracked.

Lloyd Anderson
Ecological Linguistics