Canadian activist Paige Saunders has a new video about Ranked Choice Voting entitled How the Two Parties Crush Competition (31 min). The video is a decent introduction to how the limitations of the U.S. electoral system create limited choices and a divisive discourse. And most importantly, he discusses how practical, straightforward reforms can change this dynamic – and indeed already have.
America is such a diverse country and trying to fit its entire population under just two political brands has run its course. Let America be, what America is.
This is my favorite line from the video. The U.S. population is extremely diverse, and the whole population does not fit neatly into two camps. This causes problems when the system tries to reflect the will of the people, but it only receives very blunt signals from the current electoral process. A multi-party system, or at least a system that allows viable independent candidates, can allow for a better reflection of the preferences of the voting population. Political innovation becomes possible when candidates can experiment with persuading voters of various platforms and policies to see what works.
Saunders also discussed how Ranked Choice Voting can help mitigate divisive political attacks. “Every single state that passes this reform is immunizing itself from divisive politics. It’s still possible to catch crazy, but on average it will be sending more moderate politicians and more independents.” The momentum around electoral reform has been growing, and hopefully that momentum can continue to spread the better politics to more states and localities, to deliver better results from our local and federal governments.