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Our political system is full of perverse incentives that leads to a false sense of democracy. The electoral college and first past the post voting leads to a co

Our political system is full of perverse incentives that leads to a false sense of democracy. The electoral college and first past the post voting leads to a constant two party system, where people in most states don’t get a real vote since their state is safe for one party and winner takes all. Neither party has any incentive to address it tho, since it benefits them both both equally. They hate each other and are as separate politically as they can be (often times taking a position just to spite the other party). But with only two parties with any real chance of winning, they’re chances are better and arguments easier to make than when facing a half dozen parties spanning the whole political spectrum. So we go from more extreme liberal to more extreme conservatism leader, like America as a whole is manic depressive. We’re more polarized as a nation than we’ve ever been before, including the lead up to the civil war. But now politician is a career, not a duty. And people make decisions that protect their careers. So in the current world we’ll never see an alternative vote introduced giving moderate candidates a shot. We’ll never see a change to the electoral college to make it so that votes against a “safe state”’s party matters at all. I’m not calling for unrest. Lord no, that’s against the law. All I’m saying is that there is a real risk of it happening due to the current climate, but maybe that’s not entirely a bad thing.

krapp 6y ago
>I’m not calling for unrest. Lord no, that’s against the law. All I’m saying is that there is a real risk of it happening due to the current climate, but maybe that’s not entirely a bad thing. I don't know. Every president since GWB has been considered illegitimate by a significant fraction of the opposing party, some mix of Hitler (for the red team) or Stalin (for the blue team.) People believed Obama was a Kenyan born Al-Qaeda double agent, and the person most responsible for spreading that conspiracy theory is currently running the country (with, as expected, everyone on the other side certain he stole the election and is going to put everyone into the gas chambers.) I've been hearing about the "cold civil war" ready to boil over into violence for years now, but it hasn't happened. Trump's election is the biggest response to that "unrest" that I'm aware of, and it seems to have been a net negative for American society and political discourse. I agree that the electoral college and FPTP voting are problems that need to be addressed - but the parties themselves should stop fielding one and only one candidate per election. I feel like the primary phase should be done away with entirely.
- taywrobel 6y ago
  > but the parties themselves should stop fielding one and only one candidate per election Putting up two candidates in the election is a guaranteed way to never win again with our current system. All you’ll do is split the vote for your party, handing the win to the opposition wrapped up with a bow.
  - krapp 6y ago
    We could stand to do away with a lot of our current system, I'm just saying the game theory that leads to two candidates per presidental election is a big part of the problem, and one that at least doesn't require a constitutional convention to solve.

krapp 6y ago

>I’m not calling for unrest. Lord no, that’s against the law. All I’m saying is that there is a real risk of it happening due to the current climate, but maybe that’s not entirely a bad thing. I don't know. Every president since GWB has been considered illegitimate by a significant fraction of the opposing party, some mix of Hitler (for the red team) or Stalin (for the blue team.) People believed Obama was a Kenyan born Al-Qaeda double agent, and the person most responsible for spreading that conspiracy theory is currently running the country (with, as expected, everyone on the other side certain he stole the election and is going to put everyone into the gas chambers.) I've been hearing about the "cold civil war" ready to boil over into violence for years now, but it hasn't happened. Trump's election is the biggest response to that "unrest" that I'm aware of, and it seems to have been a net negative for American society and political discourse. I agree that the electoral college and FPTP voting are problems that need to be addressed - but the parties themselves should stop fielding one and only one candidate per election. I feel like the primary phase should be done away with entirely.

taywrobel 6y ago
> but the parties themselves should stop fielding one and only one candidate per election Putting up two candidates in the election is a guaranteed way to never win again with our current system. All you’ll do is split the vote for your party, handing the win to the opposition wrapped up with a bow.
- krapp 6y ago
  We could stand to do away with a lot of our current system, I'm just saying the game theory that leads to two candidates per presidental election is a big part of the problem, and one that at least doesn't require a constitutional convention to solve.