No Confidence Vote

The US, different from most Western nations, does not have a parliamentary form of government and I suspect we are going to pay dearly for this difference.

A parliament 'no confidence vote', is a parliamentary motion traditionally put before a parliament by the opposition in the hope of defeating or embarrassing a government. On rare occasions, a supporter who has lost confidence in the government may also put it on the parliamentary order paper. The motion is passed or rejected by means of a parliamentary vote (a vote of no confidence).

During the early 19th century, attempts by Prime Ministers to govern in the absence of a parliamentary majority proved unsuccessful, and by the mid 19th century, the ability of a motion of no confidence to break a government was firmly established in the UK.

Typically, when parliament votes No Confidence, or where it fails to vote confidence, a government must either resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution and request a general election. In a time of crises of confidence in the nation's leadership a parliamentary form of government has a means for a quick democratic replacement of the current leadership. This info came from Wikipedia.

It appears to me that the US is now facing a no confidence in the present leadership. Our system requires that we must wait for the next election in 12 months or even the one in 36 months before we can hope to rectify this very serious weakness in our leadership.

For the moment assume that it is absolutely imperative that we not leave Iraq until it is able to rule itself in a self-sufficient manner even though this might require a ten year massive commitment far beyond the one we have already made. Also assume that to be successful we must gain significant support from countries in Europe and the Middle East. Is it possible for Bush to lead the country into such a commitment under the present circumstances?

This is a serious problem not just for America but for the whole world.