I was discussing with a few friends the other day the concept of having a Parlimetary-type system with no Prime Minister.

Let's say you have an elected body such as the Congressional body.
Within that body you have a collection of ministries: The Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Defense, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry of Energy etc...

However, there would be no Prime Minister.
No exectutive branch.
The affairs of the Educational System would fall under the Ministry of Education solely.
Every 4 years, let's say, there is a general election for the populace to elect the members of Congress.
Every 4 years, offset by two years, there will be a general election for the populace to elect the Arbiter (or Minister) of each Ministry. For example, in 2004, we vote for members of congress and in 2006 we would vote for the Arbiters of each group.

Obviously there is a great lack of detail in this and I am not talking about hammering out all the minor details of implementation (not YET, anyway), just the general idea of having a legislative body without any individual weilding supreme executive power.

What do you think would be the benefits and pitfalls of such a system?
Is there a similar system I can look at in an historical context?

Let me try this again...
*bump*

thats excatly what i have been trying to tell people we should have!
i hope someone listens to you, thoy sure didint listen to me