We desperately NEED third parties. Our laws make that impossible. We need a responsible middle of the road Republican Party. And a radical left party separate from central democrats.
“Fusion voting” as advocated by Lee Drutman’s substack would bring that on. And with it the return of compromise legislation.
What we need is a greater diversity of voices - of candidates and voters. The most direct route to that is Ranked Choice Voting. This Instant Runoff system is the most efficient way to reform our electoral system. Efficiently winnowing a multitude of candidates to guarantee a majority win victor.
Even in parliamentary systems a multitude of parties can lead to unstable strange bedfellow coalitions and to paralysis. Better to have voters make the compromises at the ballot box by ranking their choice of candidates than party representatives making backroom deals while government hangs in abeyance.
The stakes are too high to split the vote with ego driven campaigns by self promoters (and the people who love them) who show up once every four years to grab the golden ring of the presidency. And who otherwise have shown little interest and less success in building any new party from the ground up.
I have not spent a LOT of my energy thinking about proposals to modify election laws. I deeply respect Lee Drutman, who has. I was impressed by the use of RCV in Alaska. But Drutman says fusion voting (which was legal everywhere until the 2 parties disliked the competition and got it banned in early 20th century) is common internationally and helps explain the common existence of multiple parties. The waste a vote and simply-cause-chaos effect of JFK jr and Nader are reflections of the poor state of our laws (including banning of fusion voting). Fusion voting allows parties to work together and encourages compromise without hiding strong disagreements on policy
Exactly, such as the third-party deluded
We desperately NEED third parties. Our laws make that impossible. We need a responsible middle of the road Republican Party. And a radical left party separate from central democrats.
“Fusion voting” as advocated by Lee Drutman’s substack would bring that on. And with it the return of compromise legislation.
Meanwhile campaign finance vouchers would help
What we need is a greater diversity of voices - of candidates and voters. The most direct route to that is Ranked Choice Voting. This Instant Runoff system is the most efficient way to reform our electoral system. Efficiently winnowing a multitude of candidates to guarantee a majority win victor.
Even in parliamentary systems a multitude of parties can lead to unstable strange bedfellow coalitions and to paralysis. Better to have voters make the compromises at the ballot box by ranking their choice of candidates than party representatives making backroom deals while government hangs in abeyance.
The stakes are too high to split the vote with ego driven campaigns by self promoters (and the people who love them) who show up once every four years to grab the golden ring of the presidency. And who otherwise have shown little interest and less success in building any new party from the ground up.
I have not spent a LOT of my energy thinking about proposals to modify election laws. I deeply respect Lee Drutman, who has. I was impressed by the use of RCV in Alaska. But Drutman says fusion voting (which was legal everywhere until the 2 parties disliked the competition and got it banned in early 20th century) is common internationally and helps explain the common existence of multiple parties. The waste a vote and simply-cause-chaos effect of JFK jr and Nader are reflections of the poor state of our laws (including banning of fusion voting). Fusion voting allows parties to work together and encourages compromise without hiding strong disagreements on policy
Sure we do, but we need to change a few laws first. Otherwise we get the worst of the worst.