General Discussion

that they cannot conceive of proportional representation and coalition governments.

Obviously in seeking votes, parties will tend to make clear where the boundaries of their co-operation will lie, and that's actually democracy in practice because PR tends to give all voters a degree of say in the government, unlike in winner-takes-all/first-past-the post systems which effectively disenfranchise large proportions of the electorate. It's rare, and celebrated when it happens, to find a US politician or party that will declare, and live up to that declaration, being willing to work cross-party, and unheard of on the American right, where the principle of catering for the whole electorate, not just your own voters, is sacrilege.

In the UK. even though it doesn't have proportional representation at Westminster level, it's commonplace for parties in what look like being close-run elections to declare that they will not form alliances with certain other parties or to be challenged by the media to make their stances on this clear in the event they can't form a working majority on their own.

It's also notable that Europe is singled out for outrage on "freedom of speech", whereas Russia, the Middle Eastern countries run by oil potentates, and nowadays more and more the USA itself get a pass for their records on that.