Real Democracy
An experiment at finding a new solution to modern voting, and helping support real democracy in the US.
This is an older idea I had a few years back, and now with the polls opening up this fall and the overturn of Roe V. Wade, politics has again made the headlines all across the world.
This post is not about solving all of our government's problems, and trust me we have a few. And it’s not to completely bash what we have either. Every government has its goods and evils, but we can all still be proud Americans, self-aware of our problems, and work towards improvement.
What I want to focus on today is a new voting system that a group of my college buddies designed as a basic terminal app back when we were still learning how to code. The idea was to try and create a more fair and ideal voting system. So without further a due
What is it?
In a 2017 survey, Only 16% of Americans think that democracy is working according to a poll taken by usnew.com. People tend to forget that we do not exist in a sole Democracy in the United States, but what is referred to as an Authoritarian Democracy. The major difference here is that it isn’t up to the populous what gets chosen at the end of the day, but the group that contains power.
The clearest example of this is our electoral college. These individuals are voted in solely by a democratic vote, but hardly ever make the big headlines as voting on who’s president. These individuals are responsible for turning in a vote for a populous they are in charge of, in order to best fit the population's best interest. However, what they decide is in the populous’ best interest is entirely up to them, and are allowed to vote against the majority of their population's vote. Though this has only been recorded a handful of times in our Country’s history, it’s still a problem and takes away from the power our votes actually hold. This system was also built on an outdated problem of having to manually count votes which have already been replaced by electronic ballot machines. So step one, get rid of the electoral college.
Step two involves pushing attention towards voting for congress, the supreme court, and most importantly, bills. Without the large attention and headlines presidents get, we are only controlling 1/3 of the Checks and Balances we have in place in our government! That would be like a group of friends deciding where to eat without ever discussing the prices, cleanliness, or selection of menu items. They are important to consider and when all are focused on, bigger changes are met faster.
And finally, we need more votes.
Why multiple votes?
“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
FAREWELL ADDRESS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1796
Third parties need more power than they are given, and because the majority of voters feel that their vote would be wasted on a 3rd party candidate because they will never win, and even if one does happen to take the new crown, it would stay a 2 parties partition, which will consistently cause separation and internal conflict. To top it off, the majority of voters don’t know about the FEC 5% factor. With this, 3rd parties that receive 5% of the votes will get $8–$10 million in funding for their next campaign!
Besides, the majority of us are somewhere in the middle when it comes to politics, but unfortunately have to decide between two extremes that can barely align with our views and morals. So giving voters 3 votes per ballot allows them to decide better on who and what should get their vote. This gives you freedom of spreading out your decision if you are stuck between other options, and if you are completely happy with one, then you can still place all 3 votes in the same option. Giving more power to the people and more weight to your votes.
Final notes about sticking together, agreeing to disagree, and Patriotism
We shouldn’t and cannot erase the past. We must learn from our mistakes no matter how harsh the truth of what has happened. And we can’t keep hanging our heads low unforgiving of things that are in the past. It’s a hard ship to steer but we all have the power to change it one step at a time. We are Americans after all and can do better.
Freedom is about allowing those around you to say, think, and be as they please with the same respect that you can do the same. No matter how extreme it may seem, try to look at the other person's side, and find a common ground. It’s okay to agree to disagree, we don’t need another civil war in our history, but we do need to stand together as not just Americans but people.
If we can improve ourselves one step at a time, we can then change the world just one step at a time. Thanks for listening/ reading this rant, and I hope you all have a star bangle 4th of July Weekend.
