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How did the US end up with such a system? It seems to be rather an outlier in the negative sense when it comes to government efficiency. Winner-takes-all electi

How did the US end up with such a system? It seems to be rather an outlier in the negative sense when it comes to government efficiency. Winner-takes-all elections?

jjk166 3y ago
Yes it's inefficient, but our founders did not prioritize efficiency. The US simply didn't go through the post-industrial revolution reforms that most other countries did. This was due in turn to going through many reforms just before industrialization really took off due to the civil war, and then only a limited domestic effect of the world wars. Thus we have a constitution designed for a primarily agrarian society combined with a government handling revenues from the world's largest and arguably most advanced digital-age economy. Unfortunately the issue is complex and a solution requires changes to multiple facets of government, most of which are not sexy and certainly not the makings of a slogan you can put on a hat. It doesn't help that there are a number of other desperately needed reforms. I imagine things will improve, but probably not soon.
- m_mueller 3y ago
  One aspect that strikes me about the US system compared to other nations is its rigid nature. Maybe due to lessons learned (since almost all democratic Republics are younger than the US) and maybe from a cultural angle (less Evangelicism?), other nations typically don‘t set e.g. their constitutions in stone and e.g. election process reform is a real thing. I think the biggest change the US could & should strive for is to be more open to change itself. E.g. one thing I‘d wish every legal system would introduce is an expiry date for laws - if a majority cannot be reached again after a set amount of time, the law would be removed. For efficiency this could be combined with an exponential backoff algorithm - e.g. the expiry dates are set 10, then 20, then 50, then every 100 years in the future.
FrankoDelMar 3y ago
A history of colonization which resulted in a resistance to central authority, the Articles of Confederation and states rights, the list goes on.
- m_mueller 3y ago
  I have to bring up Switzerland again - just as much resistance to authority, resulting in an even more insane level of local government rights. Imagine a smallish US state being an independent nation where every county can set its own tax law, school authority, public infrastructure etc. And yet, here these things work all quite well. There must be something else. Maybe a continuity problem in government where a party switch leads to many public officials being replaced? Or are they just not paid enough, so you get the bottom of the barrel?
  - the-alchemist 3y ago
    I'm not Swiss, but I get the impression they pride themselves on compromise, stability, and independence. Public infrastructure has positive feedback loops, so if your neighbor canton has good train stations, you also want to have good train stations to connect to them. You also don't want to depend on importing expensive oil, especially as a land-locked country.
Schiendelman 3y ago
A lot of this may come from the due process clause of the US Constitution. You have to ask everyone what they think for years before you can move forward. Amazingly, some of it also comes from union contracting requirements. There’s some good reporting on NYC transit issues - hiring a dozen people to do the job of two, for instance.

How did the US end up with such a system? It seems to be rather an outlier in the negative sense when it comes to government efficiency. Winner-takes-all elections?

jjk166 3y ago

Yes it's inefficient, but our founders did not prioritize efficiency. The US simply didn't go through the post-industrial revolution reforms that most other countries did. This was due in turn to going through many reforms just before industrialization really took off due to the civil war, and then only a limited domestic effect of the world wars. Thus we have a constitution designed for a primarily agrarian society combined with a government handling revenues from the world's largest and arguably most advanced digital-age economy. Unfortunately the issue is complex and a solution requires changes to multiple facets of government, most of which are not sexy and certainly not the makings of a slogan you can put on a hat. It doesn't help that there are a number of other desperately needed reforms. I imagine things will improve, but probably not soon.

m_mueller 3y ago
One aspect that strikes me about the US system compared to other nations is its rigid nature. Maybe due to lessons learned (since almost all democratic Republics are younger than the US) and maybe from a cultural angle (less Evangelicism?), other nations typically don‘t set e.g. their constitutions in stone and e.g. election process reform is a real thing. I think the biggest change the US could & should strive for is to be more open to change itself. E.g. one thing I‘d wish every legal system would introduce is an expiry date for laws - if a majority cannot be reached again after a set amount of time, the law would be removed. For efficiency this could be combined with an exponential backoff algorithm - e.g. the expiry dates are set 10, then 20, then 50, then every 100 years in the future.

FrankoDelMar 3y ago

A history of colonization which resulted in a resistance to central authority, the Articles of Confederation and states rights, the list goes on.

m_mueller 3y ago
I have to bring up Switzerland again - just as much resistance to authority, resulting in an even more insane level of local government rights. Imagine a smallish US state being an independent nation where every county can set its own tax law, school authority, public infrastructure etc. And yet, here these things work all quite well. There must be something else. Maybe a continuity problem in government where a party switch leads to many public officials being replaced? Or are they just not paid enough, so you get the bottom of the barrel?
- the-alchemist 3y ago
  I'm not Swiss, but I get the impression they pride themselves on compromise, stability, and independence. Public infrastructure has positive feedback loops, so if your neighbor canton has good train stations, you also want to have good train stations to connect to them. You also don't want to depend on importing expensive oil, especially as a land-locked country.

Schiendelman 3y ago

A lot of this may come from the due process clause of the US Constitution. You have to ask everyone what they think for years before you can move forward. Amazingly, some of it also comes from union contracting requirements. There’s some good reporting on NYC transit issues - hiring a dozen people to do the job of two, for instance.