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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 t
by 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 agoDoes 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 agoMandatory voting is necessary in the US because of the amount of voter suppression. It should be hard to stop someone from voting.
- jfnixon 7y agoAre voters in California suppressed?
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y agoMandatory 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 agoI think the US also needs mandatory military service for all citizens.