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The rhetoric of electoralism and the idea that votes for a third party are "thrown away" is intensely corrosive to representative democracy. I agree that ranked
by RodgerTheGreat 6y ago
The rhetoric of electoralism and the idea that votes for a third party are "thrown away" is intensely corrosive to representative democracy. I agree that ranked-preference voting looks like the best fix for our current hyper-stable two-party system, but it's going to be an incredible uphill battle to expand this style of voting.
- munk-a 6y agoAbsolutely - mostly because it's in the interest of the establishment of both parties to keep the two party system. That's why I like advocating for it in local elections - it leads to a more wide awareness of the advantages of the system in the minds of electorates.
- nmfisher 6y agoOut of curiosity, what's the justification for opposing a preferential voting system in the USA? Is it simply a case of "it would hurt my guy's chance of winning"? Or is there more principled reasoning at play? As an Australian, it makes perfect sense to me.
- munk-a 6y agoThere are two points 1. It's held up that it would disenfrancbise voters 2. Tradition (essentially) something being unconstitutional in the US has morphed into an extremely radical idea in the minds of most Americans - the electoral college is established in the constitution, but the US has revised that a bunch of times over it's history including the "undo" amendment (the 21st)