How Can Two Parties Represent 300 Million Different Points of View?

In the United States elections are winner takes all contests for political power. If your candidate wins you have a representative. If your candidate loses, you get nothing. It matters little if a candidate loses by one percentage point or twenty, their supporters effectively are left without representation until the next election. The nature of our electoral system has led to the formation of two major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.

It matters little that the public as a whole is generally unsatisfied with the work being done by the two parties that dominate American politics. The general consensus is that voting for a thrid party is the equivalent of throwing you vote in the trach rather than the ballot box. Anyone who just plain disagrees with the major parties should just not vote at all. Many don't. The 2004 Presidential election managed to bring in only around 60% of eligible voters and that was a high water mark for elections in recent times. Midterm elections are far worse: In 1998 only 36.4% of elligible voters turned out at all. The numbers get continually more depressing for local elections.

Voters know that they only get one shot at representation. People of widely varying viewpoints are found under the banners of red and blue, but if white is designated as the third pary color it makes up only a tiny proportion of our political mosaic. We cluster behind the two major parties because the only way to win is to group together as one mass vote. Democrats and Republicans alike are severely limited in their ability to propose new ideas because they have to keep their base of variously minded supporters content.

Parties that once imaginatvely pursued the elimination of poverty now focus on personal attacks against the other side. Sex scandals, drug abuse, and corruption have taken the place of substantive political debate as the driving force behind political campaigns. Politics in America have hit a new low.

It does not have to be this way. If America adopted a proportional election system everyone would have representation. Under a proportional system seats in Congress would be divided proportionally based upon the amount of votes your party recieves. If the Democrats got 20 percent of the votes they would get 20 percent of the seats. Say Republicans got 20 percent as well, again they get 20 percent of the seats in Congress. In the context of the Senate, which has one hundred seats the Democrats and Republicans would each get 20 seats and thus 20 votes on each bill.

Where did the rest of the votes go. Since voters no longer have to worry about all or nothing scenarios they start to investigate their options. Tired of the "do nothing" philosophy of the major parties many found their ways into new parties they did not know existed. Representation in America suddenly becomes has become more diversified. New policy ideas and initiatives are being proposed and the parties are less divided because they have to form coalitions to get any bill passed. They learn to work together for the common good.

In addition Election Day becomes a national holiday. Election week becomes a vacation time for all Americans. We leave our busy lives behind for a week and focus on deciding the direction of our country. We realize just how important elections really are and inform ourselves before entering the voting booth.

The party in the White House represents around a quarter of America's possible electorate. By this I mean a quarter of people eligible to vote, both voters and non-voters. The legitimacy of our Democracy has into question, we are being ruled by parties that cannot even attract a majority of elible voters. In every election in recent times non-voters have outnumbered the number of voters for each major party by close to 2 to 1. Disillusion runs deep. It is time that we move to embrace the ideas and convictions of every potential voter. Proportional representation can help accomplish that goal.