[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Steve Eppley]

Hi,

Fred Gohlke wrote:
> This site focuses on methods of conducting elections, but most posts 
> address only a single aspect of that topic; the way votes are counted. 
> Is not the object for which votes are cast a matter of even greater 
> concern?  When our public officials are not representative of the people 
> who elect them and are masters of misdirection, obfuscation and deceit, 
> ought we not ask ourselves whether there is a taint in the method by 
> which they are selected?  Ought we not consider the role of political 
> parties in the political process?
>   
-snip-

My view is that the reason we have two large parties that each nominate 
one candidate per office is the bad voting method, which punishes people 
who fail to form the largest coalition. It also punishes those who seek 
the best compromise, by reducing the "votes" cast for them (if they 
bothered to compete) by squeezing them between other candidates.  Fix 
the voting method to change the parties and promote cooperation.

Regards,
Steve