> -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:44 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Anti-administration, Anti-army rant > > > Dana wrote: > > I'm afraid you are right. Wish I knew the answer. > > > > I'm confident the answer is: > > 1.) Publicly manage elections, > 2.) Publicly fund elections, and > 3.) Eliminate the electoral college in favor of 3 rounds of instant run > off.
I just don't see how any of this will allow a weak party to slowly gain power without taking power away from another and artificially empowering a third. Would any of this allow, say, the Green party to grow themselves without detracting from the Democrats and empowering the Republicans? Not that your suggestions wouldn't help in other areas, but they don't seem to address building a successful multi-party system. We have very explicit "1-to-1" elections. One group votes for one person and that person is elected or not. A party which gains 49% the vote gets no representation at all if another party gets 51% of the vote. Overall things tend to balance out, but all the elections are of this type - from local to state to federal. In countries with successful multi-party systems they all have some representation for minority parties. You vote for the _party_ with the percentages of the vote determining representation in a legislative body (the House of Commons, for example). The US system has no such rewards and that's not likely to change any time soon. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:158589 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
