King of Canada wrote:SA37 wrote:Capn'O wrote:
Major American cities fundamentally want something different from the rest of the country and I don't know how to reconcile that.
Compromise.
The whole goal (in theory) of the system is to force opposing sides compromise. Democrats spent a good portion of the time leading up to the election talking about essentially rigging the system in their favor by eliminating the Electoral College, making DC and PR states, and expanding the courts to give themselves an advantage. When they lost in 2016 -- and even this election that is neck and neck -- they have resorted to conspiracy theories (Russian meddling) or pathetic excuses (social media) for why they haven't been able to convince the public to give them the power they need to implement their policies or their candidates.
Identity politics, belief that Democrats are morally and ethically superior to the other side, this belief that the other side "owes" thel something, and an inability to compromise on certain major issues will likely continue to divide the Democrats and push them away from compromise that could otherwise lead to the implementation of policy.
Politics is tricky, but Americain institutions have brought about major changes to Americain society, even if those changes came about too slowly or too quickly for some.
I'm always saying it - but the compromise is so difficult in US politics because there are really only two parties. Here we have the two majors ones (Liberals and Conservatives), but then we have the NDP (New Democratic Party) that is a little further left than the Liberals, the green party that is gaining some traction, and then Quebec has their own party that takes votes from the major parties. In other words, they all have to work together to get stuff done. At the end of the day not much changes from one party to the other when in power. Also, our leader is just a figurehead of the party, so they can get taken down and replaced almost at a moments notice.
Yeah, and the winner-takes-all system is designed to make voting for 3rd party candidates a "wasted" vote. I think the US could fix a lot of election issues if it just got rid of winner-takes-all and included rank-choice voting to ensure a winner.
This would likely lead to a 3rd or a 4th party appearing (probably Libertarian/Tea Party, Establishment Republicans, Establishment Dems, and Progressive Dems) and you'd see a more parliamentary style of governance to get coalitions to pass legislation or make choices for judges or whatever.
Amazingly, no one is even discussing the idea of taking away the power the president has after watching 4 years of Trump. I'd love to see the president be given much less importance, which was the original intent of the Constitution.