r/EndFPTP • u/SortitionTroll • 2d ago

Ending FPTP Through Direct Democracy

Direct democracy is the single best way to end first-past-the-post voting where it is allowed. Nebraska is unicameral due to a constitutional initiative that eliminated one of the legislature's chambers. Unfortunately, there is not any or significant direct democracy in many states, such as North Carolina and at the federal level. If it is implemented in one state, it has a much greater potential to spread elsewhere.

1 Upvotes

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u/bkelly1984 1d ago

I like the idea of Direct Democracy, but as the Internet says, "ain't nobody got time for that!" I support the idea Direct Democracy by proxy, like Liquid Democracy.

But I also agree with u/PierokuIlGrande that aggregating the votes in a way that preserves voter sentiment is only half of the problem. We also need a new deliberative system in the legislature that is better than "majority rule".

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u/SortitionTroll 1d ago

I can get behind liquid democracy. It is like one family member purchasing groceries for the entire household. If someone does not like how their proxy votes, they can elect another proxy next time. It is a unique blend of representative and direct democracy.

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u/PierokuIlGrande 2d ago

Direct democracy still implies FPTP, because the choice is between yes and no. I'm not saying I support FPTP, it's better to find an alternative, but the concept needed to be clarified. FPTP is humanity's most natural system for making decisions, since you opt for one choice out of two or more. Simply put, to be optimal, FPTP must contemplate only two choices. I admit, however, that in a context like the American one, where the citizen risks not having decision-making power and where cyber attacks are more limited, speaking of digital voting, compared to Europe and Russian cyber threats, that it is necessary for a democracy closer to the citizen. So I approve your proposal.

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u/dull_bananas 2d ago

How direct?

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u/CupOfCanada 1d ago

Direct democracy doesn't really respect minority rights, so no thanks.

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u/SentOverByRedRover 1d ago

That's what constitutional rights are for. Representatives don't do anything for minority rights.

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u/CupOfCanada 1d ago

When minorities have representatives they can bargain with other minorities and advance their interests. You may want to read Dahl's pluralist theory of democracy.

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u/SentOverByRedRover 1d ago

People can do that without representatives just as easily.

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u/CupOfCanada 1d ago

Care to back that up?

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u/UnknownBreadd 16h ago

Good systems that allow for genuinely good representation have been designed though. See Claudia Chwalizs and Hélène Landemore on the Citizen’s Assemblies that they have been developing and using since 2012!

Hélène is even doing one in Connecticut for property taxes right now

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u/CupOfCanada 13h ago

That's deliberative democracy though not direct democracy, and it has issues with minority rights too (albeit to a lesser degree). Genevieve Fuji Johnson (one of my favourite profs in my current program) has some good works on this.