As someone looking in from the outside, I can’t back this message enough.
I don’t know if the country will ever go progressive but if it’s going to, this is the only way it will. One of the two major parties has to be infiltrated and overhauled so to speak, by primary.
Third party voting is not really any good yet, the FPTP system has to be fixed, well, removed, to maximise the minor party usefulness. It would be, though, if enough progressives get in to make those changes (which I imagine would be via the Amendment system? I don’t know) for what you know as ranked choice, which really does build worthwhile third party candidacy.
But they have to vote and they have to make use of the primary system. That’s your ticket out. The Republicans have already shown the way because that’s how they got to where they are…using those electoral systems and voting as a unit. Voting the letter on the actual day, too.
That barely existed as a system because it didn’t work well in practice. It was amended in 1804, there were only 3 presidents elected that way, Jefferson was in office when it was ratified.
As someone looking in from the outside, I can’t back this message enough.
I don’t know if the country will ever go progressive but if it’s going to, this is the only way it will. One of the two major parties has to be infiltrated and overhauled so to speak, by primary.
Third party voting is not really any good yet, the FPTP system has to be fixed, well, removed, to maximise the minor party usefulness. It would be, though, if enough progressives get in to make those changes (which I imagine would be via the Amendment system? I don’t know) for what you know as ranked choice, which really does build worthwhile third party candidacy.
But they have to vote and they have to make use of the primary system. That’s your ticket out. The Republicans have already shown the way because that’s how they got to where they are…using those electoral systems and voting as a unit. Voting the letter on the actual day, too.
The fptp system was broken not long after it was created. It wasn’t always broken like it is now.
That happened under the guise of making it “safer”
Used to be, the president didn’t have a running mate, the runner up was the VP.
By removing that, we’ve made our system into the 2 party monstrosity it is today.
That barely existed as a system because it didn’t work well in practice. It was amended in 1804, there were only 3 presidents elected that way, Jefferson was in office when it was ratified.
Interesting, thank you.
Imagine what difference that would have made over the years.
The guys who set it up originally were actually pretty smart. And we spent the next 250 years screwing it up…
Ranked choice can be done state by state. Alaska, maine, and New York City elections are ranked choice.
The electoral college can be nullified by state by state adoption of the popular vote compact.
That’s only a few states short but all the blue states have signed on, so it needs support from red states which is a much heavier lift.
The original setup was basically a ranked choice system already. The top two vote getters were the president and vice president.
That was changed, ostensibly to “stop assassination” but like all good ideas, it had bad follow on effects.