I wish that the US could wholesale implement Germany's electoral system. The Bundestag is approximately 1/2 directly elected seats from the 300 or so districts,

I wish that the US could wholesale implement Germany's electoral system. The Bundestag is approximately 1/2 directly elected seats from the 300 or so districts, and the other 1/2 are proportionally divided among the parties that get more than 5% of the vote nationwide, and they publish their ranked lists ahead of the election. What this means is that a voter can vote for their local representative on a personality or a pragmatic basis ("hmmm... I can tolerate the SPD guy, and I think he has the best shot of beating the CSU guy...") and then has a second vote that they can use for the party that best fits their ideology, with a bit of pragmatism ("the Pirate Party probably won't clear 5%, but the Greens are close enough to me on most issues...") The 5% thing is a post-WW2 innovation to prevent a small block who just want to tear everything down from getting into the Bundestag and causing chaos. The AfD did manage to get over the hurdle and stay in the last two elections, but can't get too wild - otherwise, they probably won't make that 5%.