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[–] rwbj 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

I think a less radical solution is simple proportional representation. We have a lengthy set of checks and balances in place. The only problem right now is that democratic and republics are both the same general party - corporatists. There's nobody really left to check corporate influence. In our current election system if a state is even broken up as 30% democratic, 25% republican, 20% libertarian, and so on and has 100 districts then every single one of their representatives end up being a democrat. How? District 1 = 30% democrat, 25% republican, etc so the democrat wins. Repeat for every district. They only get 30% of the vote but end up with 100% of the representation so there's no real voice to counter them in congress or even in state level politics. With proportional representation you'd end up with 30 democrats, 25 republicans, 20 libertarians, etc. and you'd actually be able to start getting people into office who can utilize these checks and balances to start taking back control of congress from special interests, corporations, and more generally big dollar donors.

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[–] alalzia [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Italy had proportional representation for years, i recommend checking their recent political history out

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[–] rwbj 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

A number of other countries with far more functioning governments have also been using proportional representation for many years. No system can completely prevent people from putting idiots, liars, and sociopaths into office. However, we ought strive for a system where our representatives are at least proportional to the population that puts them into office. In the US nearly 100% of political seats at all levels are occupied by republicans or democrats even though fewer people than ever identify as republican or democrat. That's exclusively a result of our archaic voting system.