[EM] Making a Bad Thing Worse

[Greg Nisbet]

My thoughts on primaries were challenged. Let me explain:

Primaries may be the rational response to FPTP. It doesn't matter.
Without Draconian sore loser, candidate oppression laws the parties
would have no way of stopping popular primary rejects from running.
These laws make primaries what they are. Primaries with legal force
are bad. Voluntary primaries are not. At the point where they are
strictly voluntary vote pooling agreements, I argue they break so much
continuity with the current system as not to be regarded as the same
thing.

The Electoral College:

This is generally regarded as a bad thing. No one really appears to
support it except as an adhoc version of asset voting. Let me explain
why this is bad/undesirable. Asset voting as a single winner voting
method makes no sense. My point is simple here: all the deliberation
in the world is a crappy replacement for an expressive ballot in the
first place! First of all, this violates unrestricted domain. Voters
should not have arbitrary limits placed on what they are able to vote
for. Unrestricted domain is a key feature of democracy. Also do people
really vote for electors by name or even know who the electors are.
The average person is simply voting for some anonymous entity defined
only by the behavior it is supposed to perform. At the point where
this is case and it is simpler to vote on the matter at hand than form
another bureaucracy to do the task, do not use the bureaucracy.

The Senate:

The United States' heritage as a federation has no impact whatsoever
on the legitimacy of bending the will of the people. See You Can't
Have it Both Ways.

The House:

Yeah! We all pretty much agree. Gerrymandering does as much as
anything to ruin America. Some gerrymandering is better than others.
I'd say localized gerrymandering is far superior to national level
gerrymandering. At least it isn't creating undeserved majorities in
one direction alone.

Two Parties:

I think we pretty much agree that the Democrats and Republicans
actively prevent competition through silly laws and their perpetual
monopoly on power. I say monopoly because they are both relatively
centrist. At least that is the impression I get.