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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
(Actually, the basic implementation means you only vote for a party list. Some contries such as Germany have some people elected from districts á la first past the post and others according to some balancing formula to achieve proportional representation, or have a primary to set up the party list)
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Except that system has always resulted in an institutional advantage for the Republicans, not the Democrats. Seriously, not only are you arguing against proportional representation, but also in favour of something benefiting the party you call evil.
No it hasn't.
The Democrats used to have a solid lock on the South using the same system. It was just when they were the party of evil and anti-democracy tactics.
Why?
Because evil people cheat.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Aug 3rd 2019 at 3:04:57 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
What happened before the parties switched roles was eons ago, not relevant today. In the present, gerrymandering in the House strongly helps Republicans and the electoral college failed the Dems twice. Both undemocratic and both favouring the evil party.
I'm sorry I just can't get behind the, 'The system is broken because the other people cheat' thing. The problem is the cheating and the belief that if you change the system that they won't cheat again. Georgia has an illegal governor not because the system failed but because no one locked up the guy who eliminated the votes that would carry his opponent.
Eliminate the cheating and the system will function just fine.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.The way I'm understanding what's being suggested is we just vote for a lump sum of Representatives based solely on population.
If so, I think this whole suggestion misses the point of why the votes are by district: because those are the places the Representatives represent.
The whole idea of the House of Representatives, as I understand it, is to represent the people in the smaller, individual sections of their states while the 2-Senators-to-a-state Senate handles the bigger, state-wide issues. It's why reps are elected so much more often, because the wants/needs of those districts can change more rapidly than the state as a whole.
The idea of "vote X Reps to Congress based solely on State population" seems to ignore that.
It will help, but districts need to be redrawn. When urban areas are Balkanized between fundamentally rural or suburban districts, that gives a structural advantage to conservatives.
That’s not even getting to the Senate, where within fifty years, a small minority of the population will control a majority of the seats.
Republican electioneering falls firmly into Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat territory because they are so structurally advantaged, they could win by doing absolutely nothing.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."I think it actually shows how far off the deep end they’ve gone, they do need to cheat to win, which is amazing when you consider how tilted the system already is in their favour, they’re that non-representative, that even with a rigged system they need to cheat the rigged system if they want to win.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
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As someone living in a country where people don't personally get to know their representatives, in exchange for proportional representation, I just don't get the obsession with keeping elections in the poorly representative, easily abused situation they are now.
My opinion is mostly the frustrated fact that the areas I live in are in desperate need of federal funding and relief for serious horrifying situations ranging from health care to food on the table. It's just the Republicans are targeting these areas directly and trying to remove those services even as they're usually in charge of them.
So:
- I want representatives so these places can have their needs met and are not ignored.
- We have spectacularly crappy people in charge of them.
I liken it to being Districts in the Hunger Games.
My opinion is that the Republicans made a strategy to lock up rural representation and have bled the competition.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Aug 3rd 2019 at 9:37:07 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Gerrymandering is really not that hard to get rid of.
Like, step one, don't let the elected officials draw their own districts. Give the responsibility to someone who at least doesn't directly stand to profit from Gerrymandering. To someone who, at the very least, gives lip service to idea of being non-partisan.
You'll see a noticeable drop in Gerrymandering from that alone.
Vox has an article
about a peculiar hashtag that may or may not be concocted or boosted by Russia's gremlins.
Today's mass shooting. Live from local news.
Texas this time, so far 18 dead and counting. . .
edit- Alternate link to non-live page.
Edited by carbon-mantis on Aug 3rd 2019 at 3:25:46 PM
We criticize plenty of things here, and Gabbard did have a point about Harris. But Gabbard in particular has atrocious views on foreign policy (among other issues that make her a Blue Dog at best, and she's in fucking Hawaii), and it is known that Russia has boosted her in the past.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Basic implementation, parties nominate lists of candidates, you vote either for a specific candidate or if you have no preference, for the party. Then you count the total votes each party gets, allocate a percentage of seats to each party proportional to their vote share, and appoint people to congress in order of who got the most votes within the party.
If cali is 80 percent democrat 20 rep, the democrats get 41 seats, the republicans 11, and the actual politicians elected to those seats are the most popular nominees from each party.