4 ms·

I think Democracy in the USA would have a better shot if it weren't for the two-party system.

egypturnash 7y ago
Which is pretty much an emergent property of the first-past-the-post voting system.
remarkEon 7y ago
I disagree. A multi-party system exacerbates the problem I'm talking about (lack of long term thinking). If we get government that swings back and forth between multiple parties with vastly different visions for the country every cycle, that seems much worse than swings between two parties that are fairly aligned at their cores.
- TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  Just trying to understand: does your comment assume full power swinging between many parties? What about distributed power proportional to party representation?
- arnarbi 7y ago
  Coalition governments are often very stable across many election cycles. There’s rarely one single party entirely in charge.
  - wtcac 7y ago
    Looking at the European panorama. That highly depends on the country. Multi partidary systems are the norm everywhere in here, but only in some countries there is a stable coalition culture. Recently Spain and Belgium spent years without a propy government because of that.
cletus 7y ago
So I think the US is missing two important things: 1. Preferential voting rather than first-passed-the-post, which is an idiotic system designed the maintain the status quo; and 2. Mandatory voting. The level of voter suppression in the US is simply staggering. But having a multi-party system doesn't really solve anywhere near as much as you might think. Other countries have this. Israel being one. And there you have single issue and single interest parties who hold a disproportionate sway because they only care about one thing. In Australia at times we've had a small party (2-5 sEnators out of 76) who hold the balance of power and whatever pet issues they have have to be addressed, which is fine if you agree with them but not so fine if you don't. In times passed this has included the Australian Democrats (whose bargain with the Howard Government to pass GST also led to the downfall of the party in big part) and the Greens. But it could just as easily have been One Nation, a dog-whistle anti-immigration, pro-White party that looks like a real "pioneer" in the Trump era.
- ep103 7y ago
  Does mandatory voting make things better? My unresearched fear would be that the people who don't bother to vote without mandatory voting are even less informed than the low-informed masses that do vote. If that line of thinking is correct, then it implies that mandatory voting would swamp the polls with masses of people who would be the most easily swayed by political advertising
  - Afton 7y ago
    Mandatory voting is necessary in the US because of the amount of voter suppression. It should be hard to stop someone from voting.
    - jfnixon 7y ago
      Are voters in California suppressed?
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y ago
    Mandatory voting fosters a culture where being an informed citizen is part of one's civic duty, but ballot spoiling should absolutely be built into the system. If you force people to shoot up, you need to give people the ability to voice that they don't like any of the options presented, or that they just don't have an opinion.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I think the US also needs mandatory military service for all citizens.

Which is pretty much an emergent property of the first-past-the-post voting system.

I disagree. A multi-party system exacerbates the problem I'm talking about (lack of long term thinking). If we get government that swings back and forth between multiple parties with vastly different visions for the country every cycle, that seems much worse than swings between two parties that are fairly aligned at their cores.

TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Just trying to understand: does your comment assume full power swinging between many parties? What about distributed power proportional to party representation?
arnarbi 7y ago
Coalition governments are often very stable across many election cycles. There’s rarely one single party entirely in charge.
- wtcac 7y ago
  Looking at the European panorama. That highly depends on the country. Multi partidary systems are the norm everywhere in here, but only in some countries there is a stable coalition culture. Recently Spain and Belgium spent years without a propy government because of that.

cletus 7y ago

So I think the US is missing two important things: 1. Preferential voting rather than first-passed-the-post, which is an idiotic system designed the maintain the status quo; and 2. Mandatory voting. The level of voter suppression in the US is simply staggering. But having a multi-party system doesn't really solve anywhere near as much as you might think. Other countries have this. Israel being one. And there you have single issue and single interest parties who hold a disproportionate sway because they only care about one thing. In Australia at times we've had a small party (2-5 sEnators out of 76) who hold the balance of power and whatever pet issues they have have to be addressed, which is fine if you agree with them but not so fine if you don't. In times passed this has included the Australian Democrats (whose bargain with the Howard Government to pass GST also led to the downfall of the party in big part) and the Greens. But it could just as easily have been One Nation, a dog-whistle anti-immigration, pro-White party that looks like a real "pioneer" in the Trump era.

ep103 7y ago
Does mandatory voting make things better? My unresearched fear would be that the people who don't bother to vote without mandatory voting are even less informed than the low-informed masses that do vote. If that line of thinking is correct, then it implies that mandatory voting would swamp the polls with masses of people who would be the most easily swayed by political advertising
- Afton 7y ago
  Mandatory voting is necessary in the US because of the amount of voter suppression. It should be hard to stop someone from voting.
  - jfnixon 7y ago
    Are voters in California suppressed?
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y ago
  Mandatory voting fosters a culture where being an informed citizen is part of one's civic duty, but ballot spoiling should absolutely be built into the system. If you force people to shoot up, you need to give people the ability to voice that they don't like any of the options presented, or that they just don't have an opinion.
lotsofpulp 7y ago
I think the US also needs mandatory military service for all citizens.