Elections

I hate elections. I am as far right-wing as a human being can be on certain issues, and as far to the left on others. So finding a viable candidate to vote for is a humiliation of irreducible proportions. The '08 presidential election is going to be horrible. I am actually hoping that Newt Gingrich and Hillary Clinton win their respective party's nominations. That way, perhaps, a third party candidate could be a viable option. This hope springs from the fact that the system by which the United States elects its Representatives is greatly flawed. The plurality system says that each tiny proportion of the country gets to pick its representative. Why?
This results in the disenfranchisement of millions of Americans who see a representative in office who shares very few of their beliefs. This is a particularly dangerous process when you have two parties in control. In Israel, they use a proportional system based on a single "closed list constituency." Basically, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is filled by voters voting for a party. The percentage of votes each party gets determines the number of seats they get in the Parliament. Because this is a "closed list," the parties themselves determine the order of their candidates who would enter the parliament. In an "open list" proportional system, each candidate must receive a certain number of votes to earn a spot. Open list voting is a little tricky and dangerous. Parties and candidates maneuver themselves so that the party is most successful without pulling too many votes from other party members. While more radical, I prefer the closed list approach and am looking forward to one day seeing it in our country.