Why are those the only two options?
The main argument against a parliamentary system is that nothing gets done if you have 6 parties splitting the vote, but the Republicans have already succeeded in undermining the ability of the Federal government to get anything done anyway. A parliamentary system would probably work better than the current system, but it would invite itās own challenges. Like in Canada where conservatives win elections all the time by getting 40% of the vote while the centrist and left parties split the other 60%. It would be easy to see the US proceed on the same lines, with the progressives and centrists splitting into two parties and the Trumpers and Never Trumpers just agreeing to work together to āstop SOCIALISMā.
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I think the optimal design is probably a parliamentary system with approval voting (vote for every candidate you like, most votes wins).
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I assume that it goes without saying that the only way to get from our system now to a better one involves violence.
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Make up your mind, are there zero ways to make American democracy work, or many? Iām open to ideas, but the big problem with our system is that voters mostly donāt pay much attention to politics, so political actors arenāt really legible to voters without a strong party ID. Imagine a 1960s factory worker whoās a loyal Democratic voter. He doesnāt follow politics on a daily basis, and is much less informed about political actors than a modern voter. But over the years when heās tuned in to politics, heās heard that the Democrat guy is big on unions and education, while the Republican is yammering about taxes being too high, which doesnāt really resonate with him. So the party serves up a bunch of generic dudes who like unions and education, the factory workers vote for the generic guys with a D next to their name, and there are some cross-pressured voters in the middle who vote for whichever party seems to be doing the best job. Not ideal, not especially noble, but functional and, critically, a stable equilibrium.
In the modern system, the hard step is winning primaries, not general elections. But primary voters are not representative of the electorate, so candidates optimize on things that the public doesnāt actually want. For a period, that was quixotic and unpopular policy proposals that appealed to primary-voting extremists, but the lesson of Trump (and maybe Biden??) is that maybe you can just dispense with that and win by having good name recognition. But in any case, you get candidates that the public hates. Partisanship is still strong, because people hate the other partyās candidate slightly more than their own, but they donāt have a sense any more of what the Democratic Party stands for, other than not-Republicans, and vice versa. Itās almost laughable to suggest that a voter would look at Bidenās record in office to decide who to vote for. Hell, if inflation was at 10% and it was obviously Bidenās fault, Iām still voting for him over Trump.
The root cause here is misunderstanding the role of elections. The value is not in consulting with the electorate and asking them who would be the best President. They have no idea. The best you can do is provide a mechanism that stably rewards electeds when they do things that the public likes and punishes them when they donāt. Parties risk being corrupt, but they used to provide an important function of legibility and long-term decision making that we lost when primaries took over.
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I have got to say that there is some contradiction in how we select the president. It is supposedly such an important job, but all you have to do to demonstrate your fitness is do a couple debates and speeches. Even the Miss America competition has an evening gown and talent component. Iād feel a lot better about Biden if I knew he could juggle or something.
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Yeah, this is a fine outcome though. In France, the same dynamics just stopped fascism (through a slightly different mechanism). A Never Trump voter who thinks compromise with socialism would have been better than compromise with Trump has a clear path: vote for the centrist guy. Structurally, parties are working towards finding the path that will make their swing voters happy so they can win their votes in the next election. In the U.S., thereās very little linkage between doing stuff that voters like and winning elections. Yglesias has an insightful observation about āsecret Congress,ā where the only way common-sense bills with bipartisan support actually pass is if they donāt get into the public eye. The reason is that if something is on cable news, electeds want to curry points with the (primary) base by denouncing it as socialism or racism or whatever else. Thereās no (important) points to be won for enacting popular legislation. Itās intensely fucked up.
I will preface this by saying I do not think someone in their 80ās should be president, clearly Biden is not what he was four years ago, and he will not be better four years from now.
That said, yes, I do think he is capable right now. Obviously there is some question as to whether or not he will be able to in a few years and in an ideal world, Iād like a different Dem to be president. I donāt think there was any indication he couldnāt do the job until the firestorm surrounding the debate. He CERTAINLY has been MUCH more capable than Trump, assuming all the stories out of the White House during Trumpās tenure were true. And Biden seems to have the respect of other world leaders, which we know isnāt the case with Trump.
And maybe Iām just ignorant, but barring some movie scenario where heād have to make a decision in a matter of minutes about pushing the button, he does actually have time to meet with advisors and think about important things.
But none of that matters at this point. The train has left the station. The only thing that matters is whether or not he can win the election. Even if one were to make the perfect argument that Biden is a fantastic president and will be great at his job for a second term, it just makes no difference anymore. I didnāt think he would win a second term before the debate and now I really donāt think he will. I have no idea whether or not ditching him and getting a new candidate in there would be better or worse. I just know Dems are fucked and Trump is going to be president again.
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I donāt think 81 is an ideal age for a president, but heās actually been governing okay? Better than my expectations (which were low).
The real problem is heās just not electable, gl convincing other people to vote for someone that old.
Ah, but the trick in the US is that most of the Never Trumpers are full of shit. They will mash the MAGA button without a momentās hesitation, and then get about the business of trying to carve out some personal gain in the new fascism. Electoral systems canāt save morally bankrupt societies from themselves.
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Yeah, because contrary to Republican propaganda, the US Federal government is actually full of technocratic experts that are perfectly capable of running things competently, or adminstrators that have access to private sector or research sector expertise. The President has some very specific and important duties, but most of the Federal government just runs on itās own momentum.
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Could Biden come out and say something like, āLook, Iām the nominee now, support me and vote for me. But if I ever canāt do the job, I will fully support Kamala and hand it over to her.ā
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Why would anyone believe him? He isnāt able to do the job of running for President right now, and heās not stepping down.
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Parties suck, abolish them.
In the golden days the Dems would have replaced him at the convention? The convention hasnāt happened yet. You should have saved this post for August 22nd.
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Didnāt this scenario just play out in France only where the centrist and left parties shut down the far right?
Get rid of the electoral college and go to rank choice voting imo
50 years ago today we had a president who was great at dropping 3 million tons of explosives on Cambodia.
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I donāt hate the sentiment but donāt really know how this would work. Are there any examples of this?