We all know America is a democracy
(well actually a constitutional republic but most Americans just call
it a democracy). Also, we all know how a democracy works (well, the
majority know the simple fundamentals of it anyway), but most
Americans do not realize how crude our democracy actually is.
If you ask Americans off the street
what is wrong with our democracy, you may get many different
responses to that question. If you ask long enough, one of the
responses may be about the first past the post voting system. If you
have no clue what that is let me explain.
The first past the post (FPTP) is a
voting system in which each person has one vote. Who ever has the
most votes wins the election. Seems fair at the basic level but it is
not. So what's the matter with this type of voting system?
Allowing voters to only vote once gives
many people the feeling that their vote will not count if it is for
anything other than the republican or democrats because a vote for a
3rd party is a vote wasted. With less representation, there becomes
more apathetic citizenry that do not take the time to vote for they
feel their voice is not heard. Switching out FPTP with a option that
allows for more than one vote may increase desire from voters to put
faith in their preferred candidate/party thus creating a more active
voting base.
The alternative vote would allow a
voter to vote more than once in a numerical order. If you identify
more with socialists, libertarians or whatever you would know that
your vote is not wasted on those parties. Once all the votes are
accounted for, the candidate with the least amount of votes is
eliminated and that candidate’s votes are distributed to the voters
second choice. This process repeats until there is one candidate.
For example, if you really do not like
Hillary but you really, really do not like Trump, and you prefer
Hillary to win over Trump. Instead of voting for what you consider
lesser of the two evils, which in this example would be Hillary, you
vote for you most favored candidate with confidence knowing it's not
going to waste a vote to help Trump get elected. This would work vise
versa as well, if you preferred a more conservative candidate but
didn't want Hillary to win you would vote for Trump as a second (or
third, or fourth, etc.) choice to ensure you vote is not wasted.
The only thing the alternative vote
does is add more options and more possible representation to the
citizens. In the end, without any change to our voting system we will
continue to be dominated by a two party monopoly (which is only one
party more than North Korea and China).
I leave with this quote by John
Adams.
“There is nothing which I dread so
much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each
arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to
each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the
greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
If you want more information about the
alternative vote click the link below.
by having more than one vote, you're essentially allowing 2nd or 3rd place in usual polls to win. most of the 2nd or 3rd place votes is generally going to be more moderate, thus the 2nd vote of most voters will get more and more votes. since the voting patterns of the country is more or less polarized, you'll never get the primary targets ie democrats or republicans into office. this would allow for other parties to win elections. this may be a good thing for competition or may be a bad thing if you really wanted a certain (democrat or republican) candidate to win.
ReplyDeleteAllowing for a numerical selection in the voting process (Alternative vote) doesn't solve everything. Many problems still carry over from the FPTP voting system. One thing it does solve, or at least deter, is the spoiler effect.
DeleteWithout the spoiler effect voters could be confident in supporting other parties without worrying that their vote might help put someone they don't like into office. This also allows more people to engage in the political process as they feel their vote matters more. Which in turn can help end minority rule. Because lets face it, most people who voted or not did not want Bush/Obama/Trump into office then those who did.
On top of that, it seems the left and right are both slowly scooting to their more ideological extremes. The alternative vote could help prevent this.
Because like you said, the 2nd or 3rd place votes is generally going to be more moderate. I would consider that a good thing. Is more moderation not better for this country?
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