political parties have terrible effects

[Sava]

The two party system is sh1t...

[korn469]

if i was going to fix it i'd pass a law requiring everyone to vote or face a fine and then completely change the way people vote for candidates

everyone gets half the votes of potential seats open, and they could be positive or negative votes

lets say you are in a state with 8 representatives and 2 senators, you then have 4 votes for the representatives and one for the senate that you could use in any way you wanted

for example as far the representatives go

if you wanted to vote for 4 seperate candidates you could

if you wanted to vote for one candidate 4 times you could

if you wanted to vote against one candidate 4 times you could

if you wanted to mix it up, 2 for candidate A, 1 for candidate B, and 1 against candidate C you could

then the 8 candidates with the most number of votes (positive votes minus the negative) would win the representative seats

that'd fix this little red wagon of a political system we have

[Sava]

I like the European parliament system much better.

[Arrian]

Eloquent as usual, Sava.

Lord Merciless' anaylsis is spot-on, IMO. The "winner takes all" system is at the core of the 2 party system.

And the 2 parties like it that way.

So, Rufus is right: the Christian Coaltion/Religious Right/Nutcases are the smart ones. They have effectively "hijacked" the Republican party. The problem is that it would be even harder to hijack one of the parties with the purpose of changing the very electoral system that keeps those parties dominant.

-Arrian

[Sava]

Eloquent as usual, Sava.

I call it like I see it.

[Odin]

I really think it is time for a constitutional convention, our current constitution reeks of the smell of sectionalism, and many things in it, like the senate and the electoral college, are relics of the old anti-federalists. This is what we need.


Legislative Branch

House of Representatives
- 1,000,000 people equal 1 congressperson in each state.
- States with populations of less than 1,000,000 get one vote
- District of Colombia gets one vote

Senate
- Uses representative system like that of Israel
- 100 senators

Executuve Branch

- President is head of state and government
- Is elected by popular vote
- Can veto but the Senate can override by 60% vote
- Nominates justices of Supreme Court

Judicial Branch

- 7 justices nominated by President, confirmed by popular vote.
- Justices serve for 10 year terms, , may have 3 terms (30 years)





This is what I think the representation in the Senate would be:

Republicans: 35%
Democrats: 35%
Greens: 15%
Libertarians: 10%
Other: 5%

[Imran Siddiqui]

Interesting, but I must disagree .

Firstly, the judiciary should be shielded from popular opinion. We want them to make decisions that are 'right' rather than politically popular. Of course, they must be in someway appointed by the democratic process (because they decide so much) so I like the present way.

If you want to really change anything, I think the lower house (House of Reps) should be like the German lower house. Half elected by district, Half by Proportional Representation. Keep the Senate the same. Make the President elected by modified Electoral vote (electoral votes split based on popular vote... this is in case there is a super close election, we don't have to recount the entire country).

[johncmcleod]

What would happen if the parties were just eliminated and the people just voted for who they thought would do the best job? Would bad things happen?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, it wouldn't be long before parties were formed. Elected officials that had similar ideas would join together to help each other get elected and new parties would form.