Oh if you're into politics, it's very interesting to follow hahaha. It's definitely not ideal, but better than a two party system for sure. Also not that difficult of a system, but for outsiders it can be a lot I think. I also struggle to fully understand the American system, with the value per state etc. Forming a new government is fun and exciting, plus it gives you some hope that a terrible minister will lose his function four years later

And doing what you can is still better than doing nothing!

Yeah, Germany has its elections on Sunday. I'm anxiously awaiting those results, tbf. You'd think Germans know how well it went the last time the extreme right-wingers were in control, but you never know...

In Belgium, we had elections for the federal government in June and regional (Flanders, for me) government in October. Although the right wing gained a lot of votes, we were able to form a government without the extreme right. At the moment we still have a "cordon sanitaire", look it up, I think it's quite nice. The extreme right-wing party says it's undemocratic, of course, but in this case I don't mind. The formation took 236 days, tho, but that's another story. We still hold the world record for longest period without a government (592 days in 2018-202, breaking our own record of 541 days in 2010-2011)

This is the most positive take I've read on this topic so far. I hope it's true and it's all more circus than it seems, but it's scary tho

there is no force that could stop us

... yet! I have some hope in the EU becoming stronger together and try to do something against it. I don't know what, but something...

They just made my gender illegal to put on a passport

So TECHNICALLY they can't do you harm either... No passport no way of punishing you (I know they can, but I'm just trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Humor as coping mechanism and all that)

You get used to it when you live here, trust me. Only once a week, as is tradition!

There's a society here, yes! Be my guest!

Can I offer you our political system with 6 governments?

I visited New York years ago (2014, I think), but that's nothing like other regions in the States, I imagine. Where I live (Bruges), I sometimes stumble upon American tourists in bars, but due to the nature of the places I visit they're often more open minded.

They don’t look at the possible outcomes, just that “they win”

I think this way of thinking is a big problem in a democratic system. When you vote, you don't "win" or "lose". But maybe I compare this too much to the Belgian system. There's so many political parties to choose from and they have to form a coalition to represent the majority.

Out of curiosity: how do you see the next 4 years evolving? And do you have hope for the next elections?

My grandparents finally saw the house I bought with my gf and we had a wonderful afternoon with coffee, cake and lots of talking

Throwback to that one time I had one week to write my thesis after doing nothing all year.