Close. Looks to me like a pretty good argument for a third party and the introduction of a preferential voting system (i.e. instant runoff instead of first-past-the-post.)
Close.
Published
Close. Looks to me like a pretty good argument for a third party and the introduction of a preferential voting system (i.e. instant runoff instead of first-past-the-post.)
Never Stop Posting 
With no candidate with a plurality of votes and with preference flows expected from both Clinton and Trump supporters, Bernie might’ve got over the line.
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Vote ① for Bernie!
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We might have to pass a constitutional amendment to make preferential voting happen, and good fucking luck with that: it has to pass 75% of state legislatures (and optionally 2/3 of both houses of Congress), so you’d need to find only 14 state legislatures to say no or stall it until the momentum dies.
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Is it just me who thinks that the practical purpose of national political systems (English, Australian, American, Communist, Absolute Monarchies, whatever) is to actively prevent almost all people from having any practical effect on the political process?
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First (2) then (1), else no chance.
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We really should have 3 or 4 active political parties in national elections in the US (there are more in state legislatures) and allowed to participate in televised debates, but for now the two parties have a virtual lock on the process. They couldn’t stand Ross Perot getting whatever portion of the vote he got and took the debates away from the League of Women Voters to create an interparty Presidential Debates Commission to keep other parties out.
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Before running for President, Bernie Sanders was independent, because he considered himself more to the left, than Democrats.
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David Cameron Staples: That’s because, the principle of Separation of Powers notwithstanding, the rules for people having practical effects on the representors are routinely tweaked and optimised by representors with a conflict of interest.
Switzerland seems to be in a reasonably good place in this regard, and may be worth emulating or, at the very least, consulting if you should ever be in a situation of building a new political system. I have also heard good things said about the Icelandic system, but I’m less familiar with that.
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Marla Caldwell: Well, Samantha Bee pointed out that the Libertarian Party is currently widely balloted. A somewhat bizarre series of events may conceivably push Vermin Supreme to become a major candidate.
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Andres Soolo and I have read a number of Sanders supporters saying that if Sanders is not on their ballot, they will vote Jill Stein, suggesting the Greens may actually get a significantly larger vote count than usual this November. Both of those are only applicable to POTUS, though, and neither of them (nor Gary Johnson, Libertarian official candidate) has any chance to actually win the contest.
I think we’d benefit more from having Greens and Libertarians in Congress and in the debates than just getting more votes than usual for POTUS, though. It could be argued that Ron and Rand Paul (Republican/Libertarian) and Bernie Sanders (Independent/Democratic Socialist) represented those interests in Congress, but not very effectively at <1% representation, nor officially since they didn't run under the banners of the parties they theoretically represent.
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Marla Caldwell: Stein getting the presidency would be interesting. Herr Drumpf’s presidency is an invitation to found a cult to try to survive the inevitable doomsday.
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