Too bad you can't vote your way out of a shitty electoral system.
You can, except people focus on the wrong issues.
The catch is that the politicians who promise electoral reforms would have to be able to win in the current system. And why would they want to change a system is which they are winners?
Trudeau promised electoral reform in Canada, which some people foolishly believed. The federal Liberal Party has won under the first past the post system many times in the past. It makes no sense to expect them to suddenly give an advantage to the underdogs.
Two questions for this:
- What is the alternative?
- Would people vote for it?
Proposing either is extremely difficult, and I'd wager that most people wouldn't want to change it, either through ignorance of the system, and manipulation from those that like the current system.
I would say that the alternative is a long way off, especially in the USA. The current system is deeply entrenched and looks more likely to fall into outright fascism than get better, unfortunately.
In general...the way forward is for the working class to take control of the government. This can happen through electoralism or revolution.
In the US, the nation's mythology is so embedded into people's minds it will take a long time just to unwind those threads and get enough people thinking that maybe things actually could be better. In the meantime, as others have said, there is some hope in the lower levels of government, and engagement there is certainly worthwhile.
I feel like voter turnout on (especially) local levels would be greater if we had to participate in Highschool. Get used to researching local politics would go a long way to instilling it in adulthood.
That and mandatory time off for voting would help.
Get used to researching local politics would go a long way to instilling it in adulthood.
It's certainly a skill, which is half the problem. Every election I research the hell out of the local candidates/positions, and routinely there is little information on the candidates. Some races are better than others, but at a certain point it becomes difficult to even figure out anything other than a name.
The information about these candidates needs to be more readily available.
alternate take: Joe fucking Biden is THAT guy. Always has been. As long as he's breathing he always will be.
Wait oh, it’s April 1st
