Are there many other countries locked in a two party system?
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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what other country ever did?
The Roman Republic.
No, really - the Tribal Assembly, the democratic legislature of the Republic, was divided by tribes, and tribes sorted according to geographic residence. Urban tribes got 4 votes, and rural tribes got 31 votes. Just like today!
[sobbing]
thx 4 the info. always nice to learn some history. one of my favorite subjects in school
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And they won't let go of it because the Electoral College keeps the wealthy in power.
As loathe as I am to use a BS argument...
Both Sides are wealthy. ;)
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Something something healthcare is a right elsewhere too something something
We can and should do better.
USA! USA!
Look, I really do love my country. As unfashionable as that sometimes seems on the left. But it ain't perfect. There are a lot of things that need worked on. Our healthcare situation is subpar. Our labor protections - bleh. Same for consumer protections. There are lots of things we could do to study other models and try to bring them here (except for the regressives here that hold everything back, that is).
But one of the very worst is our Electoral College and the way the House is capped. The Senate system should get an overhaul, too. Two Senators from every state, no matter how many people live there? The EC was a slavery era thing and should be abolished, but the Senate thing should get an overhaul as well. I don't know the kinds of populations the 13 colonies had, but I doubt there was anything like the magnitude of California/Texas/Florida/New York/PA/etc vs. Wyoming. Maybe the makeup of states should get reconsidered if we cannot change the number of Senators - maybe split up California into smaller states, maybe combine some of the flyover states that have almost no one in them...
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However, many other delegates were adamant that there be an indirect way of electing the president to provide a buffer against what Thomas Jefferson called “well-meaning, but uninformed people.”
How disappointed he would be to see his idea for protecting against decisions being made by the uninformed masses having been so subverted by the very system he supported.
Any system that remains static for decades inevitably gets gamed by the powers that be. Sadly it seems we might be past the point of no return for this country…this election is everything
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The title should probably specify "for a presidential election". France uses an electoral college for its Sénat, it's made of regional/departmental elected people.
does it work like us presidential election tho? or are senators in France in the same "level" as electors in the US (i. e. there is no intermediate step between a voting person and elected one)?
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Pretend democracy
This shit has to go.
the inherent problem is you'd need some of the less populous states to voluntarily give their disproportionate power away. Even if they agree at the time that a popular vote is in their favor, that doesn't mean it will be forever. It's in their best interest to never give that power up.
You "only" need to convince enough of the current states to elect a president, then they can just join that compact that has states always give their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote.
It's only as hard as electing a president, but you need to get a lot of state officials on board.
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Maybe it's time to re-randomize the map. Six Californias, merge a couple Dakotas, and a new state called "Steve" in the middle of Texas for no good reason.
States seem to be a classic seemed-sensible-in-1790 hack, goofier and less relevant as time goes on. At best you get arbitrage plays, finding the most comfortable jurisdiction for your particular graft. At worst, it seems to be a great line for the scum too stupid and/or crooked to get a federal position to settle at.
I wonder if a UK-style model, where the regional governments are devolved narrow lists of things they can play at government with, would work better.
Luv me states. Luv me history. But realistically speaking, if they could be abolished and replaced with nearly any other modern system of national/regional government organization, it would be massive improvement.
Yep, but you also need to get rid of FPTP.
Without that, gerrymendring won't work, and you'll actually be able to get more than two parties as realistic optiobs to vote for.