Philosophical Vegan Forum

I do think they will get rid of the electoral college at some point, perhaps within this decade I think, the movement is building there with more and more states signed up.

I think the most important change to US democracy is to remove 2 senators per state, I think that is really what stops good meaningful change and means that things that 60% of Americans might be in agreement with can´t get done. Yes I know it isn´t on the cards for now, but maybe one day.

That wasn´t really what I was thinking about however when I wrote "unifying the country by offering to improve the election system". I meant he could order a commission to look at all the issues that have been complained about such as voting machines, mistakes in the count, lost votes, susceptibility to hacking and so on and make the system even better and people have confidence in it across the political system

Here was a video about this done by the left wing "Last Week Tonight"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEuG_ekNT0

Jamie in Chile wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:06 pmI think the most important change to US democracy is to remove 2 senators per state, I think that is really what stops good meaningful change and means that things that 60% of Americans might be in agreement with can´t get done. Yes I know it isn´t on the cards for now, but maybe one day.

Do you suggest getting rid of the Senate entirely, or do you mean get rid of the equal representation and make it proportional representation?

Jamie in Chile wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:06 pmThat wasn´t really what I was thinking about however when I wrote "unifying the country by offering to improve the election system". I meant he could order a commission to look at all the issues that have been complained about such as voting machines, mistakes in the count, lost votes, susceptibility to hacking and so on and make the system even better and people have confidence in it across the political system.

I don't think any of that would really matter. Like I said, since Trump said it, it must be true according to these people, no matter how damning the actual facts are, and I have a good feeling claims of electoral fraud will prevail well beyond Trump.

I´d be happy with either getting rid of the senate entirely, or changing it so that the number of senators reflects the population, so 1 senator for Wyoming, 5 or 10 for California or whatever. If you get rid of the senate entirely you need to make sure you can´t have a mess where after every election results are overturned and nothing sticks and it´s too easy to pass bills. So you might need a rule that a bill needs 55% or 50-54% twice in a row 2 years apart. Or you could say that bills can´t be overturned for x years.

I do think states rights need to be protected in senate reform though. There needs to be a law or understanding for certain opt outs. For example if a lefty leader bans all guns some states need to have an opt out for their own state maybe. But we can´t have the power of Wyoming senators stopping action on climate change or medical care at a national level.

Another option is keep the senate as is, but have it so that as soon as the law passes the house it becomes a national law, and the senate only votes on whether states are allowed an opt out on the law or not. A majority in the senate as well might just mean no opt out.