Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
The same can be said of direct election (of the president) or of a proportional election system such as has been described.
Part of the problem is that there are too many issues involved with any such change. It is not as though direct election would take care of every grievance people have with the current system. For example, it would do nothing to give a fairer chance to third parties, yet I think that is where this debate started.Not when candidates are elected directly by the voters. Every vote counts. But when middlemen elect a candidate, your vote may be completely ignored. You know what I'm talking about.
Part of the problem is that there are too many issues involved with any such change. It is not as though direct election would take care of every grievance people have with the current system. For example, it would do nothing to give a fairer chance to third parties, yet I think that is where this debate started.
A third factor, which I think is the most important one, that would help third parties is a change to the voting system to use approval voting or other range voting, Ranked choice/transferable vote, or, which would be most effective, proportional multimember districts for Congress.I agree with you. There are 2 factors that would make 3rd parties competitive:
1) Money. By far the most important. Without money, you can't get your message out. Dems and Repubs have the fund raising apparatus and the large donors and superpacs (dark money) that spend big sums on behalf of their candidates and issues. Unless there is monumental reform in campaign financing (i.e., abrogating Citizens United) it's highly unlikely any 3rd party will have the resources to take on the 2 major parties.
2) Ballot access. Getting your candidate on the ballot requies navigating 50 different state requirement. Like signed petitions, and having won various percentages of the votes in previous elections. Rules which were enacted by major party legislators in order to maintain their dominance in elections.
If you can think of a way around thsese obstacles, I'm all ears.
would a centrist or moderate party work, or is that not a coherent enough ideology to rally support?
Centrism can only be defined by its position in the nation at the current time, its a constantly moving mark on policy questions, though its philosophy is more constant. I do believe there are a lot of moderates in the Democratic Party, though the more radical progressives get more attention.You already have a centrist party, they're called the Democrats.
At least they'd be centrist or even centre-right in most other first world countries.
would a centrist or moderate party work
So far it seems Trump is staying pretty close to the Right. Tariffs are the only thing I can think of that he supports that the Left does, but even that is more of a populist and pro small business issue than a left or right one. I wonder if his priorities will change with Democrats controlling the House. What areas do you see Democrats moving left the most on?That's exactly what Trump is, in that Trump's platform combines some traditionally Democrat ideas and some traditionally Republican ones. For that reason, Trump has the backing of many blue-collar union workers who were once Democrats.
One possible future is that Trump's legacy becomes a centrist party that includes blue-collar union workers and some Democrat ideas (like expanded healthcare), but excludes some Republicans.
Another possible future is that the Democrats abandon their leftward shift, and re-embrace their traditional base.
Billionaire Ross Perot ran for president in 1992 against George H W Bush and Bill Clinton as an Independent. Perot was preaching the government should balance the budget instead of increase the national debt. Perot lost the election to Bill Clinton, but from 1998 -2001, President Clinton and Congress passed balanced budgets. The Federal government has owed money since 1835.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?