samsmart
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Our national identity are based off of a few key concepts. These concepts are what makes America what it is. Two of these are "One Man, One Vote" and "No Taxation Without Representation."
However, it seems to me that these two core beliefs don't mesh well with each other. "One Man, One Vote," calls for every person to get one vote in elections, so that every person has an equal say in the choosing of our leaders. No one gets more than one vote, so no person has more of an advantage in our political process than another.
In a system that only allows a citizen to have one vote, a plurality system is the one most often used, and is the only one used in the U.S. besides some special elections. In a plurality system, whichever candidate gets the most votes, but not necessarily a majority of votes, is the candidate who wins the election.
But Duverger's Law is a political scientific law that states that in a plurality voting system, a two-party system naturally emerges. Two parties are formed to prevent ticket-splitting or other spoilers. Each party is trying to get the most votes, and the most votes come from a two-party system. This is why the U.S. has the current party system that we do now.
However, this prevents smaller third parties from becoming a viable force in politics. What tends to happen in a plurality system is that such smaller third parties are either incorporated into one of the larger parties or spoil the ticket so that their mutual opposition wins elections. This makes it very difficult for third parties to be viable.
But what this does is cause members of those third parties to go unrepresented in politics. Members of smaller third parties in the U.S., such as the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party, don't have much of a chance of getting elected into office. This prevents de facto representation of their ideals in American government. It violates the idea of "no taxation without representation" because of the difficulty in getting their representatives voted into office because of our voting system.
So my question is which is more important? "One Man, One Vote" or "No Taxation Without Representation." Should we continue our plurality voting system even though it means some political ideas never gain representation? Or should we institute a different system that would benefit third parties, such as Instant Run-off Voting, which would allow citizens to vote for several candidates for one office in a ranking order and whichever candidate is the first to get the majority of ranked votes wins the election?
However, it seems to me that these two core beliefs don't mesh well with each other. "One Man, One Vote," calls for every person to get one vote in elections, so that every person has an equal say in the choosing of our leaders. No one gets more than one vote, so no person has more of an advantage in our political process than another.
In a system that only allows a citizen to have one vote, a plurality system is the one most often used, and is the only one used in the U.S. besides some special elections. In a plurality system, whichever candidate gets the most votes, but not necessarily a majority of votes, is the candidate who wins the election.
But Duverger's Law is a political scientific law that states that in a plurality voting system, a two-party system naturally emerges. Two parties are formed to prevent ticket-splitting or other spoilers. Each party is trying to get the most votes, and the most votes come from a two-party system. This is why the U.S. has the current party system that we do now.
However, this prevents smaller third parties from becoming a viable force in politics. What tends to happen in a plurality system is that such smaller third parties are either incorporated into one of the larger parties or spoil the ticket so that their mutual opposition wins elections. This makes it very difficult for third parties to be viable.
But what this does is cause members of those third parties to go unrepresented in politics. Members of smaller third parties in the U.S., such as the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party, don't have much of a chance of getting elected into office. This prevents de facto representation of their ideals in American government. It violates the idea of "no taxation without representation" because of the difficulty in getting their representatives voted into office because of our voting system.
So my question is which is more important? "One Man, One Vote" or "No Taxation Without Representation." Should we continue our plurality voting system even though it means some political ideas never gain representation? Or should we institute a different system that would benefit third parties, such as Instant Run-off Voting, which would allow citizens to vote for several candidates for one office in a ranking order and whichever candidate is the first to get the majority of ranked votes wins the election?
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