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I propose a constitutional amendment to ban political parties. ;) But seriously, that would be interesting. Our Founding Fathers never intended there to be thi
by gjsman-1000 4y ago
I propose a constitutional amendment to ban political parties. ;)
But seriously, that would be interesting. Our Founding Fathers never intended there to be this entrenchment of two parties. It would make polarization harder because, well... what are the sides? It would also force greater civic participation to know what candidates actually stand for, and not just at the federal level.
- johnthuss 4y agoI'm excited about Ranked Choice Voting [1]. If it was adopted in more races I think we would start to see much more variety on issues rather than being limited to just two viewpoints (i.e. increased third party participation). 1. https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV) https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
- arcticfox 4y agoI’m voting for a 3rd party candidate likely to be a spoiler for exactly this reason, to try to give the dominant party in my state the kick in the ass they need to implement some version of RCV. Even though I support the dominant party, I don’t support the lack of RCV in their wins and the outcomes that causes, so this is my protest vote to put it on their agenda.
- johannes1234321 4y agoEven if you forbid parties there will be some form of alliances of people running for office. Especially if media focusses on the "big names" in many electoral districts the local candidate is less relevant than who they team up with. Having parties makes that aspect documented and allows for laws and other regulation on finances and procedures around that.
- bena 4y agoGeorge Washington intended that. But realistically, it's the nature of the beast. Call it whatever you want, you're going to get people with roughly aligned goals exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble to pool their resources to enact legislation they want. "Ban political parties" is about as much of a thought out solution as "fix problems".
- nathanaldensr 4y agoExactly. It essentially amounts to "ban people from talking to one another" in the end.
- fallingknife 4y agoHow do you define "political party?" There's always going to be some equivalent to organize votes across 535 delegates. I would say go the other direction. A lot of European countries seem to have a lot of success with systems where political parties are officially part of the electoral system.