Is it time to consider "proportional representation" or "ranked choice" voting over "first past the post" elections? And bravo to the UK's Monster Raving Loony Party. Make politics fun again!
Great article. One of the lessons of the UK election for the Republicans is that they either stick together or lose big. I am also not a fan of ranked-choice voting since it frequently results in the person with the most votes on the first ballot losing. In Alaska a few years ago, the third-place Democrat beat the two Republicans who despised each other so much that their second choice was the Democrat. Much of our current system was the result of the one-man-one-vote Supreme Court decision that ended overt racial gerrymandering. We would do better, I think, to make districts that more closely resembled community boundaries rather than the pure partisan maps being drawn today. A proportional system allows broader representation in a particular district, though that is not guaranteed. It would make possible the election of our own Stark Raving Mad Party - though I think Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz may already be secret members.
interesting and great research
Great article. One of the lessons of the UK election for the Republicans is that they either stick together or lose big. I am also not a fan of ranked-choice voting since it frequently results in the person with the most votes on the first ballot losing. In Alaska a few years ago, the third-place Democrat beat the two Republicans who despised each other so much that their second choice was the Democrat. Much of our current system was the result of the one-man-one-vote Supreme Court decision that ended overt racial gerrymandering. We would do better, I think, to make districts that more closely resembled community boundaries rather than the pure partisan maps being drawn today. A proportional system allows broader representation in a particular district, though that is not guaranteed. It would make possible the election of our own Stark Raving Mad Party - though I think Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz may already be secret members.
Thanks, Mark, I should have mentioned the Alaska GOP split that helped elect Democrat Mary Peltola to the US House. Great example.