Fundamentally the problem is literally voting. Specifically first past the post voting. There is no viable mechanism to have more than two parties in a first past the post voting system and with only two parties you’re forced into voting against someone rather than for someone. Both parties oppose proportional voting systems specifically because they know it would weaken them, although only the GOP has specifically banned ranked choice voting in state and county elections.
The very first step (but certainly not the last) in fixing our democracy must be to replace first past the post with some kind of proportional voting system. That is the only way we’ll get more political parties that better reflect the actual desires and opinions of the American public which in turn will help curb corruption in the political parties.
Fundamentally the problem is literally voting. Specifically first past the post voting. There is no viable mechanism to have more than two parties in a first past the post voting system and with only two parties you’re forced into voting against someone rather than for someone. Both parties oppose proportional voting systems specifically because they know it would weaken them, although only the GOP has specifically banned ranked choice voting in state and county elections.
The very first step (but certainly not the last) in fixing our democracy must be to replace first past the post with some kind of proportional voting system. That is the only way we’ll get more political parties that better reflect the actual desires and opinions of the American public which in turn will help curb corruption in the political parties.