Support for democracy in America has fallen to alarming lows, even as voters desperately seek change. Proportional representation could re-energize our democracy
Thanks for your great and as you say beautifully presented article! You worry that skeptics will say that such proposals go too far and might break the current system; I'd argue that in fact proportional representation does not go far enough!
Since I love the idea the way you are opening constitutional issues up for real, concrete debate, I took a leaf out of my late Dad Maurice Pope's book The Keys to Democracy: Sortition as a New Model for Citizen Power and pulled together what he might have written in response to your piece:
Lee Drutman, THANK YOU for continuing the cause of changing our election system for the better. I have read, re-read and now regularly read again chapters of your book "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop" yet my sense is that the average non-extreme voter is not yet ready for change. I think they feel that the system is broken, but they don't know or haven't seen a path toward solutions. I know I am ready, but the people I talk to aren't. So I hope you continue to write about your ideas and try to put a bright light on them so that soon, hopefully, the voters will be ready to accept the changes.
Great piece! How does the growing trend of (at least nominally) non-partisan local elections fit into this analysis?
I’m increasingly concerned by the withering pipeline of civil servants. Municipal boards and commissions are old and gray with many vacancies. How do we stimulate more competition at the local level?
This is a problem I’m working on at Stump (joinstump.com), but eager to learn about other ideas and initiatives.
Loved the NYT piece and all the other pieces like it. I personally would've appreciated details on the voting mechanism, threshold requirements, etc. because I'm a massive nerd who has a keen sense for ways to make stories unappealing to the broader public. Excited to (probably) eventually see those details.
One thing that bothers me about this debate is that if we really wanted to we could see how this type of reform works in practice. Yes, we see it with other countries and can engage in the relevant comparative analysis. But why don't we utilize the "laboratories of democracy" we already have?? It's sort of a dream of mine to do so, push this type of reform at the local or state level and show that satisfaction with democracy is possible. Would love to see others try as well.
Truly a well-written and thoughtful proposal. I wish I could share your optimism and faith, but we just elected a group of nihilistic arsonists with no interest in governing, no aptitude for diagnosing or solving problems, and contempt for competence. I don't share your belief we could ever get this done. We're going to get torn apart economically, militarily, and even intellectually and some of us will even be doing the tearing.
There's a lot to like about proportional representation, and I look forward to your future pieces, but I wish there was more discussion out there of what can be done in the short term to make US politics better.
As Trump comes back into power, there needs to be a stronger alliance between Dems and non-MAGA Republicans. For example, in the three upcoming House special elections, Dems should step aside and allow independents to run as the de facto Democrat in each race. Basically, the Dan Osborn strategy might be a decent short-run solution to the problems that proportional representation would fix longer term.
Thanks for joining the discussion Brad Van Arnum!! I certainly agree with your comments about the need to quickly get things moving to build a strong resistance to Trump2.0. And if we can get some "quick fixes" in place while working on a longer term solution I think that would be good strategy. FYI, I plan to join your Substack blog later today.
Thanks for your great and as you say beautifully presented article! You worry that skeptics will say that such proposals go too far and might break the current system; I'd argue that in fact proportional representation does not go far enough!
Since I love the idea the way you are opening constitutional issues up for real, concrete debate, I took a leaf out of my late Dad Maurice Pope's book The Keys to Democracy: Sortition as a New Model for Citizen Power and pulled together what he might have written in response to your piece:
https://open.substack.com/pub/hughpope/p/proportional-representation-a-cure?r=295n2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
New Liberals for proportional representation!
Lee Drutman, THANK YOU for continuing the cause of changing our election system for the better. I have read, re-read and now regularly read again chapters of your book "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop" yet my sense is that the average non-extreme voter is not yet ready for change. I think they feel that the system is broken, but they don't know or haven't seen a path toward solutions. I know I am ready, but the people I talk to aren't. So I hope you continue to write about your ideas and try to put a bright light on them so that soon, hopefully, the voters will be ready to accept the changes.
Great piece! How does the growing trend of (at least nominally) non-partisan local elections fit into this analysis?
I’m increasingly concerned by the withering pipeline of civil servants. Municipal boards and commissions are old and gray with many vacancies. How do we stimulate more competition at the local level?
This is a problem I’m working on at Stump (joinstump.com), but eager to learn about other ideas and initiatives.
Loved the NYT piece and all the other pieces like it. I personally would've appreciated details on the voting mechanism, threshold requirements, etc. because I'm a massive nerd who has a keen sense for ways to make stories unappealing to the broader public. Excited to (probably) eventually see those details.
One thing that bothers me about this debate is that if we really wanted to we could see how this type of reform works in practice. Yes, we see it with other countries and can engage in the relevant comparative analysis. But why don't we utilize the "laboratories of democracy" we already have?? It's sort of a dream of mine to do so, push this type of reform at the local or state level and show that satisfaction with democracy is possible. Would love to see others try as well.
Truly a well-written and thoughtful proposal. I wish I could share your optimism and faith, but we just elected a group of nihilistic arsonists with no interest in governing, no aptitude for diagnosing or solving problems, and contempt for competence. I don't share your belief we could ever get this done. We're going to get torn apart economically, militarily, and even intellectually and some of us will even be doing the tearing.
Your article is compelling evidence that nothing good comes from the NYT.
Well the game definitely has winners. That should be the start of the analysis.
There's a lot to like about proportional representation, and I look forward to your future pieces, but I wish there was more discussion out there of what can be done in the short term to make US politics better.
As Trump comes back into power, there needs to be a stronger alliance between Dems and non-MAGA Republicans. For example, in the three upcoming House special elections, Dems should step aside and allow independents to run as the de facto Democrat in each race. Basically, the Dan Osborn strategy might be a decent short-run solution to the problems that proportional representation would fix longer term.
Thanks for joining the discussion Brad Van Arnum!! I certainly agree with your comments about the need to quickly get things moving to build a strong resistance to Trump2.0. And if we can get some "quick fixes" in place while working on a longer term solution I think that would be good strategy. FYI, I plan to join your Substack blog later today.