Quote:
Originally Posted by Pasghettos
IMO the biggest problem with voting behavior in USA is that so many people are willing to vote for “the lesser evil.” It creates a situation where parties have little incentive to nominate candidates who represent the interests of the public. Parties can trot anybody out there knowing that the election will be close to a coin flip.
Ferguson’s investment theory of political economy is the most plausible election theory I’ve heard. The reason it works is because voters are so easily “bought.” If voters were more willing to withhold their vote from these terrible candidates then maybe we’d see some better options in future cycles.
spaghetto that is not a "problem" that is a feature of first past the post (aka majoritarian) voting system.
there is no alternative in that system, because if you split the people in 4 (imagine far left, center left, center right, right), and one side splits equally, the other concentrate on one of the two, the second side ALWAYS WINS.
this creates incentives to have candidates very near the median actually, for that district.
unless, a district is already automatically one sided. then the real election is the primary not the general, and the candidate closer to the median primary voter wins.
you might prefer a system, the proportional one, where you have say 11 choices and you vote that which represents your viewpoint the best.
many European countries have that system or something similar to that.
in many cases nothing gets done (which you could consider a bonus tbh).
take the Netherlands: PURE proportional representation, if you get enough for one seat nation wide, you have a member of parliament.
they voted on November 22nd 2023. no party came even vaguely close to win. you need them to ally and so you need YOUR representative to agree with **** he HATES and vote for it on your behalf. THEY DONT HAVE A GOVERNMENT YET because the "wrong party" is the biggest one, and the others know that if they all ally and govern without it, next time the "evil party" will get even more votes.
you haven't solved anything! if your representative goes purist HE NEVER GOVERNS and the other side ALWAYS WINS. the other people compromise among themselves and they govern, every time forever, unless your people on your side are willing to do the same.
you can't get away from that dynamic