You are correct. My feeling is that there must be credible challenging parties before the Democratic and Republican Parties will ever substantively change. To create credible challengers we need to get rid of plurality voting, the Electoral College, gerrymandering, Citizens United, money as speech, etc. We need to implement ideas like pr…
You are correct. My feeling is that there must be credible challenging parties before the Democratic and Republican Parties will ever substantively change. To create credible challengers we need to get rid of plurality voting, the Electoral College, gerrymandering, Citizens United, money as speech, etc. We need to implement ideas like proportional representation. These meta-issues are in many ways more important for the future of democracy than the policies or appointments of the incoming administration, or who becomes Chair of the Democratic Party.
If we remember the 2016 Republican primary, there were at least a dozen viable candidates vying for the nomination under party chair Reince Priebus. Numerous moderate Republicans split their constituency and consequently Trump won the nomination. If there had been, say, approval voting instead of plurality voting, Trump would have been defeated in that primary.
You are correct. My feeling is that there must be credible challenging parties before the Democratic and Republican Parties will ever substantively change. To create credible challengers we need to get rid of plurality voting, the Electoral College, gerrymandering, Citizens United, money as speech, etc. We need to implement ideas like proportional representation. These meta-issues are in many ways more important for the future of democracy than the policies or appointments of the incoming administration, or who becomes Chair of the Democratic Party.
So the rise of Superpacs and their money helped create the beachead for Trump to eventually take over the Repub Party.
If we remember the 2016 Republican primary, there were at least a dozen viable candidates vying for the nomination under party chair Reince Priebus. Numerous moderate Republicans split their constituency and consequently Trump won the nomination. If there had been, say, approval voting instead of plurality voting, Trump would have been defeated in that primary.
Absolutely spot on, Jeff! I agree with you!