Writer's Block: Change of Law

[grysar]

[Error: unknown template qotd]I'd change the U.S. electoral laws. Switch the Senate to being elected by proportional vote (dropping the two Senators to a state thing), get house races more competitive (I don't particularly care which of many good options would be used) and the Presidency to Single Transferable Vote or something like it.

I think those changes would help revitalize our Congress and that other reforms I support would be popular enough to get through the resulting more democratic system. I'm a bit too much of a good governance type to implement my other policies by fiat.

Comments

[maniac-brainiac.livejournal.com]

The problem with a proportional vote (as it applies in Canadian government, anyway) is that it can hold an entire country hostage to the current ideals of the most populated region. In our case, Ontario is the most populated province, and therefore has the most parliament members. In a majority government, the will of the rest of the country is sublimated to the party line. Canada was held in a Conservative stranglehold for years because of our proportional vote. It was only after a major crisis in government (and votes of non-confidence) that we were able to see radical change.

Even so, lasting positive change comes slowly, if at all.

Would you do away with the electoral college?

[grysar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, electoral college would be totally gone.

You raise a fair point.

I was actually thinking of taking the states out of entirely for the Senate. More populace regions would probably have an economics of scale advantage, but not to the extent that California arbitrarily run our government or something. Although even if it was redistributed among the states, I don't think we'd have Canada's problem because we have many more states thus finer gradation.