History lesson

The latest political uproar in Iceland is that the new government wants to appoint a new president of the Senate, and the former ruling party is not happy about it, calls it a power grab.


In the United States, the President of the Senate is actually the Vice President, and in the beginning, the Vice President was whoever came in second in the presidential election, meaning that the President and Vice President might not even be of the same party. The founding father's must have considered the President of the Senate an important role, because in point of fact, it is the only formal role the Vice President has within the workings of the government, and I think they meant to keep the two somewhat independent of each other. Now that has all changed--the VP is chosen by the President--but still the Vice President only has this one official function. So, in the United States, if a new president of the Senate were to be chosen, the former president of the Senate would loose all official authority, would slink away into obscurity instantly.


But that is not the case here in Iceland. The displaced gentleman gets to still be in the Althingi, still gets to influence legislation and the direction of the country, as long as he has the support of his constituents. So I fail to see what all the hubbub is about.

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