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Should the US adopt Proportional Representation?

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Should the US adopt proportional representation for Congress?
Yes, with an electoral threshold of 2 pct. 33%  33%  [ 4 ]
Yes, with an electoral threshold of 5 pct. 8%  8%  [ 1 ]
Yes, with an electoral threshold of 10 pct. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
No 8%  8%  [ 1 ]
Hell No 17%  17%  [ 2 ]
KANYE 2020 17%  17%  [ 2 ]
Other (spill the beans) 17%  17%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 12

TheRobotLives
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20 Aug 2020, 12:58 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
TheRobotLives wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
I hope you never pretend to be libertarian when you're so openly hostile towards democracy.

Some Libertarians believe that just casting a ballot is a criminal act of slavery of another.


Plenty of people who claim to be libertarian don't seem to actually have any interest in personal liberty for anyone but themselves but I wouldn't consider those people to be in a position to define libertarianism when their ideology just sounds like the better worded equivalent of a toddlers view of the world.

What are your opinions regarding the topic?


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funeralxempire
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20 Aug 2020, 1:00 pm

TheRobotLives wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
TheRobotLives wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
I hope you never pretend to be libertarian when you're so openly hostile towards democracy.

Some Libertarians believe that just casting a ballot is a criminal act of slavery of another.


Plenty of people who claim to be libertarian don't seem to actually have any interest in personal liberty for anyone but themselves but I wouldn't consider those people to be in a position to define libertarianism when their ideology just sounds like the better worded equivalent of a toddlers view of the world.

What are your opinions regarding the topic?


I outgrew an-cap ideology in my late teens, can you be more specific?


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TheRobotLives
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20 Aug 2020, 1:06 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
I outgrew an-cap ideology in my late teens, can you be more specific?

To get this topic back on track, what are your opinions regarding the proposed proportional representations ideas?


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funeralxempire
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20 Aug 2020, 1:24 pm

TheRobotLives wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
I outgrew an-cap ideology in my late teens, can you be more specific?

To get this topic back on track, what are your opinions regarding the proposed proportional representations ideas?


I would prefer proportional representation to systems intended to limit democracy. I don't believe rural voters votes should be worth several times more than those of people who live in more populous states, especially not when those populous states also subsidize those rural states heavily. One shouldn't be able to lose the popular vote by a wide margin and claim the presidency.

Or, to make it more applicable to my own backyard, the Liberals shouldn't win a majority government with 35% of the vote.


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21 Aug 2020, 3:04 am

vermontsavant wrote:
The multi party system has been tried in the past,in the late 1800's and never took off.The Progressive party had brief success with Teddy Roosevelt but quickly died.Then the Dixiecrats in the early 60's but when the 64 civil rights bill passed with the support of LBJ,they all went republican and there has not been any third party success outside of Bernie Sanders in Vermont.

I'm not saying a multi party system couldn't benefit America but it's not likely to catch on.

The same with the House of Representatives electing the president,not a bad idea but Americans by large want to elect there president.Most parliamentary countries never had the right to vote for president,Americans have had that right and it's hard to take away that right once given.

The major reason why those third parties have failed is because FPTP and similar systems strong disincentivise them.

If America adopted a proportional system then you wouldn’t suddenly see the Libertarian Party gaining the largest share of the vote, but you would probably see about 10% of the population voting for other parties within two election cycles and that number would continue to grow. The left wing of the Democrats would split off to form their own party, which might merge or stand on a joint platform with the Green Party. Ross Perot’s run shows that Americans are prepared to vote third party when they think it has a chance of working.



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21 Aug 2020, 3:54 am

I think it would be reasonable to suspect - under proportional representation - that the leftmost wing of the Democratic Party and the rightmost part of the Republican Party would form new parties...

But there is currently also a Mariana Trench sized gap in the US political centre between the Democrats and the Republicans which might be occupied by a new "Centrist" party.

So, with PR, the US could end up with something like this (from left to right)…

The Progressive Party (The Godless Commie Basterds)
The Democratic Party (The DINOS)
The Moderate Party (The Swamp)
The Republican Party (the RINOS)
The Conservative Party (The 'Murican Taliban)