Leaving aside the question of whether a parliamentary system would actually be better than the presidential system we have, I offer the following scenario.
1. Until 1824 the Democratic-Republican Caucus in Congress chose the "official" DR candidate for President. Jackson rather than than Crawford has a stroke before the Caucus chooses Crawford and therefore he and his supporters do not challenge the Caucus decision as they did in OTL. Adams is selected as the VP nominee so he also does not challenge the Caucus choice. (I know that Adams was very ambitious and believed that the deserved the Presidential nomination because of his service as Secretary of State, like Madison and Monroe before him. But work with me,)
2. Crawford is elected President without the drama of OTL's 1824 election but then has his stroke sometime in the first year or two of his term. Crawford is incapacitated but without anything like the 25th Amendment there is no Constitutional way to get him to step down. The DR Caucus introduces, and Congress passes (perhaps with the sub rosa assistance of VP Adams) a "Resolution of No Confidence" calling on the President to step down and also refuses to address any of the Administration's legislative agenda, financial requests or appointments..
3, This finally gets Crawford (or his caretakers) to give up and the President resigns with Adams becoming President.
4. Adams with the customary Adams charm and light political touch (sarcasm alert) manages to quickly alienate most of Congress with his legislative agenda and cold manner (much like OTL) but unlike OTL, Congress now has a precedent of getting rid of a President it does not like. So, a new Resolution of No Confidence is passed by the overwhelming DR Congress and the combination of the Resolution and not passing any funding required by the Administration results in Adams' resignation.
5. A precedent has now been set and the butterflies multiply. Perhaps the requirement that the President retain the "Confidence" of Congress remains informal or perhaps it is codified by statute or Constitutional Amendment. In any case, the system now becomes that the Electoral College elects a President every four years but his term can be shortened by vote of Congress because of policy disputes, ill health or loss by the President's party in the midterm election.
Sounds sorta like a Parliamentary System to me. What do you think?
1. Until 1824 the Democratic-Republican Caucus in Congress chose the "official" DR candidate for President. Jackson rather than than Crawford has a stroke before the Caucus chooses Crawford and therefore he and his supporters do not challenge the Caucus decision as they did in OTL. Adams is selected as the VP nominee so he also does not challenge the Caucus choice. (I know that Adams was very ambitious and believed that the deserved the Presidential nomination because of his service as Secretary of State, like Madison and Monroe before him. But work with me,)
2. Crawford is elected President without the drama of OTL's 1824 election but then has his stroke sometime in the first year or two of his term. Crawford is incapacitated but without anything like the 25th Amendment there is no Constitutional way to get him to step down. The DR Caucus introduces, and Congress passes (perhaps with the sub rosa assistance of VP Adams) a "Resolution of No Confidence" calling on the President to step down and also refuses to address any of the Administration's legislative agenda, financial requests or appointments..
3, This finally gets Crawford (or his caretakers) to give up and the President resigns with Adams becoming President.
4. Adams with the customary Adams charm and light political touch (sarcasm alert) manages to quickly alienate most of Congress with his legislative agenda and cold manner (much like OTL) but unlike OTL, Congress now has a precedent of getting rid of a President it does not like. So, a new Resolution of No Confidence is passed by the overwhelming DR Congress and the combination of the Resolution and not passing any funding required by the Administration results in Adams' resignation.
5. A precedent has now been set and the butterflies multiply. Perhaps the requirement that the President retain the "Confidence" of Congress remains informal or perhaps it is codified by statute or Constitutional Amendment. In any case, the system now becomes that the Electoral College elects a President every four years but his term can be shortened by vote of Congress because of policy disputes, ill health or loss by the President's party in the midterm election.
Sounds sorta like a Parliamentary System to me. What do you think?
