Laymen, Lend me your Ears!

[Allama]

Last election here in Massachusetts for the federal House of Representatives roughly 80% voted Democratic, roughly 20% Republican. We have 10 seats, so there are certainly enough to provide for some proportionality. But because we use FPTP, the resulting legislature elected for this state is not 80% Democratic, 20% Republican, but 100% Democratic. In short, 1/5 of the population at least is unrepresented in the legislature, and that is simply unacceptable. Everyone is entitled to be represented the policy making process, and while perfect representation is impossible something as egregious as a 20% deviation from proportionality is simply absurd.

This is exactly why I designed my RP nation's electoral system the way I did.  I actually started out with it loosely based on France's legislature (which, of course, is set up for proportional representation), then went out on a limb to make it unique.

[Khablan]

Your sueing culture might also have something to do with people quitting to think for themselves, why think of what you do when you can blame any accidents on someone else and get money for it?

I think it encourages the "get rich quick" mindset.  People figure from what they hear that everybody's doing it, so why shouldn't they get a slice of the pie?  These corporations are so rich they'll never miss it, right?  Personally, I'd like to see every lawyer fined for bringing frivolous lawsuits to court.  It's their business to know what's frivolous and what isn't, even if their potential clients don't.

[Allama]

Another cultural quality leading to the rash of frivolous lawsuits is the general attitude of being entitled.  Here in the US people seem to think they are "owed" happiness and a perfect life, and if they don't get it someone else is always to blame.  They seek monetary compensation for the stupidest situations imaginable because they don't want to fault themselves for misusing a product or even because they think any time they can get money out of some company it's only because they "should" have it.

I've actually heard people say they would sue anyone they could potentially find a reason to gain a settlement from simply because they can, that it is not immoral to get money this way because they deserve it.

[Stillwaters]

I guess I misunderstood what you were saying. I don't like multi-member districts at all. You make a valid point about people being under represented in a state like yours. But, that is a part of our system- and honestly I don't think it is worth taking a risk to fix something that isn't broken. In your state the Republican Party has lost the battle of ideas. If they want representation in Congress they need to do a better job of getting their message out and finding candidates that are electable. The parliamentary systems of our world have multi-member districts but also multi-party systems that make it nearly impossible for some parties to ever gain office if not for their system. Unless we want the Libertarians, Green Party, Constitutional Party, and others to have more influence I don't see a need.

[Allama]

I guess I misunderstood what you were saying. I don't like multi-member districts at all. You make a valid point about people being under represented in a state like yours. But, that is a part of our system- and honestly I don't think it is worth taking a risk to fix something that isn't broken. In your state the Republican Party has lost the battle of ideas. If they want representation in Congress they need to do a better job of getting their message out and finding candidates that are electable. The parliamentary systems of our world have multi-member districts but also multi-party systems that make it nearly impossible for some parties to ever gain office if not for their system. Unless we want the Libertarians, Green Party, Constitutional Party, and others to have more influence I don't see a need.

Frankly, I think those "third parties" should have some influence in government.  They represent a lot more of the population than it would seem based on the percentage of votes they garner in an actual election.  Many of those who vote for one of the main two parties only do so because third parties almost never win anything and they don't want to "throw their vote away".  This is a HUGE sign that the system is, in fact, broken.  When people don't feel truly free to vote for those they wish to represent them in government, we have a problem.

Even if 100% of those who support a third party vote to reflect that, which will never happen the way we run things now, they will not get any representation.  If a party receives 20% of the votes, they should get 20% of the representation.  Period.  That makes sure people feel free to vote as their hearts choose, and not as they think will "avert the greater of two evils" because they know a vote for a third party won't be wasted.  Leaving such a huge portion of the people with no representation sounds an awful lot like what we were trying to get out of in the Revolutionary War in the first place...  Can you imagine what this country would be like if we were no longer ruled by tyranny of the majority?  Right now 51% of the country has the power to control practically all of the executive and legislative decisions.

[Gulliver]

Yes, the current electoral system is absolutely and completely broken. The legislatures being elected are not representative of the population. Basically every single district is now gerrymandered, something made possible by the fact that they are single member winner-take all affairs without proportionality, making elections almost absolutely pointless as the results are in most places practically predetermined. In fact, it has reached a point where here at least the opposition doesn't even bother to put up a fight the system is so complete rigged, which is of course a serious problem because functioning democracy relies on competition. We have ridiculously high rates of voter apathy as most voters are smart enough to realize that under the current system their votes are usually completely wasted. We have an unresponsive Congress that now does what the people want by some polls only 40% of the time. We are stuck with only two real choices, constantly forced to pick between only two options. The only thing that's not broken is that we have some kind of elections, and that's a pretty low standard to aim for.

And actually, France's legislature is not set up for proportional representation, as it uses single member districts elected by runoff voting. Still, even that is an improvement on the American system as it makes sure the winner actually has a majority and allows for more than two parties.