Alternative Voting | The Best Democratic Idea Not Invented in America

HopeTracker| I urge anyone who is a centrist American of either party to read Tom Friedman’s A Tea Party Without Nuts, which makes the case for why moderates can’t get elected in the Republican party and why the American health care was almost run over by Catholic bishops. (That’s me talking).

Independents, aka centrists, are just as concerned about the future of America as the Tea Party Crowd. Tom shares two ideas from Larry Diamond, a Stanford University democracy expert.

The first concerns an end to political redistricting zoning in the hands of politicians. The second, called “alternative voting” just blew me out of my chair. What can I do to support such an initiative? I will lend all my online support to such an idea, including knocking on doors if it must be an amendment to the US Constitution.

Now I know why I LOVE Australians. Not only do they care about dolphins, they care about democracy. If America is so smart about everything “democratic” why don’t we have Alternative Voting? AOC readers will get a full report! God bless you, Tom Friedman.

One reason independent, third-party, centrist candidates can’t get elected is because if, in a three-person race, a Democrat votes for an independent, and the independent loses, the Democrat fears his vote will have actually helped the Republican win, or vice versa. Alternative voting allows you to rank the independent candidate your No. 1 choice, and the Democrat or Republican No. 2. Therefore, if the independent does not win, your vote is immediately transferred to your second choice, say, the Democrat. Therefore, you have no fear that in voting for an independent you might help elect your real nightmare — the Republican. Nothing has held back the growth of independent, centrist candidates more, said Diamond, “than the fear that if you vote for one of them you will be wasting your vote. Alternative voting, which Australia has, can overcome that.” Read on at NYTimes