8 Comments
Feb 20, 2023Liked by Eli Merritt

Dont believe that any mechanical system of counting votes or republican representation can fix what is broken. The US has to find a unifying social consensus first, then it systems can implement and reflect that. The question is how do we find this new social consensus, a set of priorities which provide a compass to light our path. It used to be enlightenment liberalism supported by Christian values. The unique and revolutionary feature of American thought that put the highest possible value on the dignity and value of the individual, in the face of the impassioned masses, can be rejuvenated, and perhaps might light our way forward again. We can always hope.

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Feb 19, 2023Liked by Eli Merritt

We must adopt a ranked election primary such as Alaska uses. And then we must eliminate the Electoral College in favor of direct election.

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Feb 18, 2023Liked by Eli Merritt

Any system of nominating is vulnerable to bad intentions and undesirable outcomes. Before primaries, nominations came from party leaders meeting in "smoke-filled rooms." That system produced Lincoln and Roosevelt. A more majoritarian system is vulnerable to an effective demagogue, especially at times of economic or international stress.

There are any number of villains in the present sorry state of democracy -- the decline of the media; resurgent racism; a culture of selfishness going back to Reagan and Ayn Rand; Citizens United from the Supreme Court; the Kochs' sponsorship of authoritarian, right wing candidates, think tanks, and political movements. The Constitution itself, with the unrepresentative Senate and electoral college, and with the inbuilt bias favoring states and implicit racism -- all contribute to the vulnerability of democracy.

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Feb 18, 2023Liked by Eli Merritt

https://open.substack.com/pub/curly/p/the-republican-national-convention?utm_source=direct&r=3ooz6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The Republican National Convention will choose the Republican nominee in 2024, not a plurality of primaries.

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Agreed. Both are fantastic steps in the right direction.

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