How to break the two-party system (Page 1/1)
fredtoast JUL 31, 08:18 PM
This country is so evenly split that if we even just had 3 or 4 Senators and a handful of Representatives for parties other than the big 2 everyone would have to scramble and compromise to get anything done. But there rae multiple problems with trying to break the two-party stranglehold.

1. MONEY. . . The top two parties control 99% of campaign funds. We could get around this by having publicly funded elections. There would be a lot of details about how easy or how hard is would be to get on the ballot, but I think we could come up with a reasonable balance. A candidate would have to get a certain number of signatures on a petition, but not outrageously large amount.

2. WINNER TAKE ALL VOTING. . . Two ideas to work around this. First of all we could have senators and some representatives elected "at large" and take the top 2 or 3 vote getters instead of just #1. Another is ranked value voting where the candidate with the most first and second round votes wins instead of the one with the mot first place votes. There are lots of different versions of ranked value voting that get complicated, but the idea is to give a broader range of candidates a chance.

3. LACK OF LEGIMATE THIRD PARTY. . . This could be the biggest problem. many people I know have been fed up with the two-party system for a while, but also could not find a viable third party worth voting for. In 1992 Ross Perot got 19% of the votes in the presidential election, but I don't even rally understand what he ran on. It was mostly "I am a great businessman who will make America great.". And even though I use the term "third party" I actually mean "alternative parties" because there could be a few. The best thing that could happen would be for the extremists in each party to split off and form their own parties. That would leave the majority in the middle in a btter position to compromise to get stuff done.


Thoughts?
MidEngineManiac JUL 31, 08:23 PM
Wont work either...we have multi-party system in Canada.

It just turns into vote-splitting between generally agreeing factions (last I looked there were 10 or so different conservative-type parties across the country)

Just ends up as an "Old boys Club" of politicians taking their turn at the same sheet....

FFS, Ottawa is one giant orgy of them and we are the ones taking it in the azz !!!!!
Vintage-Nut JUL 31, 10:05 PM

quote
by fredtoast:
Thoughts?



Thanks, but no thanks for your 'responses'......
82-T/A [At Work] AUG 01, 07:48 AM
The funniest part of this post, is where you thought we actually believed you cared for a minute, and were anything other than a radical leftist... by literally every other post you've made on here.
rinselberg AUG 01, 08:09 AM

quote
Our democracy is menaced by two dragons: an out-of-balance electoral college, and gerrymandering [of congressional districts.] How can we slay them?


Danielle Allen has some ideas.

I started to summarize what I'd scrolled through, but I think I will just offer two of her opinion columns for the Washington Post.

Arguments and ideas for substantially increasing the number of Congressmen and women in the U.S. House of Representatives:
https://www.washingtonpost....entatives-districts/

Ranked-choice ballot elections and the elimination of Democratic and Republican party primary elections
https://www.washingtonpost....-solution-democracy/

Among the ideas, using a single, ranked-choice ballot general election to elect three U.S. Congressmen or women from every current congressional district.

She even outlines how the U.S. Capitol Building could accommodate that many (1305) members of the House of Representatives without tearing it down and building a new one.

These were both published earlier this year.


quote
Danielle Allen, a Washington Post contributing columnist, is a political theorist at Harvard University, where she is James Bryant Conant University Professor and director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics. She has published numerous books on justice and citizenship, including most recently “Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus,” as well as the acclaimed 2017 family memoir “Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.” In 2015, she served as chair of the Pulitzer Prize board, and in 2021 she entered the Democratic primary for governor of Massachusetts before ending her campaign in February 2022. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 08-01-2023).]

rinselberg AUG 01, 08:14 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
The funniest part of this post, is where you thought we actually believed you cared for a minute, and were anything other than a radical leftist... by literally every other post you've made on here.


Calling forum member fredtoast a "radical leftist"..?

That's some Comedy Gold, right there.

He's "center left", judging by the assemblage of his remarks on this forum.

Come back to Earth One.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 08-01-2023).]

fredtoast AUG 01, 08:55 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:

The funniest part of this post, is where you thought we actually believed you cared for a minute, and were anything other than a radical leftist... by literally every other post you've made on here.




You know that other thread where I talked about OBJECTIVE tests for proving you were obsessed with stalking me? This is a perfect example. Absolutely nothing to do with the subject of the thread. You just popped in to take a shot at me.

Feel free to point out if I ever do this to you.
ray b AUG 01, 08:59 AM
well it get worse the harder you look


USA: The 26 least populated states, which together elect a majority of Senate seats (52),
make up only 18 percent of the population.


but only 1/2 the voters vote so really 9% who vote
and they split 5% to 4%

so with real estate voting that 5% control the 95%

and that just ain't right and needs fixen NOW
82-T/A [At Work] AUG 01, 01:34 PM

quote
Originally posted by fredtoast:

You know that other thread where I talked about OBJECTIVE tests for proving you were obsessed with stalking me? This is a perfect example. Absolutely nothing to do with the subject of the thread. You just popped in to take a shot at me.

Feel free to point out if I ever do this to you.




Dude, I don't have time for this.
fredtoast AUG 02, 08:07 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
Dude, I don't have time for this.


Then stop doing it.

Pretty simple solution, right?