[Marxism] Michael Moore asked me: Wassup? -- revised

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's my answer:
A program for a democratic republic

Electoral reform is needed to correct compromises made over 200 years 
ago. The issues or problems that they were designed to solve no longer 
exist.

(1) Abolish the Senate. Now the 22 smallest states get 44 Senators. 
California, the largest state with a population equal to the smallest 
states, gets 2 Senators. There is no way to sensibly restructure this. 
The United Kingdom’s House of Lords, from which our system is derived, 
has been stripped of almost all tasks except allowing the passage of 
time for reconsideration.

(2) Abolish the Electoral College. Recent elections have made a mockery 
of the one-person one-vote standard applied throughout the nation 
except for the presidential election. It does not solve problems that 
the founders foresaw. It has resulted in the “Red States, Blue States” 
degeneration of our national discourse. The United States is made up of 
citizens--human beings--not pieces of land. Abolishing the Electoral 
College would bring vitality back to the electoral process. Candidates 
would have to campaign for all of our citizens votes. No one with 
interest in our civic life would feel comfortable staying at home. 
Previously ignored citizens would have the election brought to them. 
Their votes would count in New York and in Kansas! Political parties 
would have to come up with solutions to a different set or combination 
of issues than they now argue over.

(3) Establish Runoff Voting. If the election doesn’t produce a majority 
for a single candidate, there would be another election (two weeks 
later?) between the two top vote getters. This way we could vote for 
minority parties, which actually have something to say, which would 
have a chance to grow, without fearing that a vote would be wasted. 
Another alternative would be Instant Runoff Voting, where the secondary 
choices would determine the outcome if no candidate had an absolute 
majority.

(4) Institute proportional voting. It’s the only fair way to reflect 
the actual will or desire of the citizenry. Proportional voting would 
apportion congressional representation based on support for the 
political programs of the parties.

If we accept the idea that the state boundaries stay the same as 
present, all the candidates within each state would run on a statewide 
slate with each party presenting a slate in order of preference chosen 
by the respective party. Thus, in a state with 10 representatives, if 
the Republicans and Democrats each got 40% and the Greens and 
Libertarians each got 10%, that state’s representatives would be the 
top 4 on each of the major party’s lists, while the Greens and 
Libertarians would each get 1 representative—the first person listed on 
each of their lists.

It wouldn't be entirely fair, since some states have only one 
representative, others just a few. But it would be a workable 
compromise. Since this proposal is based on also getting rid of the 
Senate, adding those 100 seats to the House of Representatives would 
further promote the democratic ideal.

(5) Since neither of the major parties desire these reforms, we should 
bring these proposed reforms to them. Speak the Democratic Truth to 
Power! Ask minority parties to adopt them as part of their own 
political program. At heart, these reforms are the same kind of issues 
as winning the right to vote for women and African-Americans.

Thank you Michael for this opportunity to participate in creating a 
truly democratic republic.

Brian Shannon
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