> In a message dated 98-10-05 17:13:44 EDT, you write:
>
> << Hell, even Poland and the Czech Republic, with per capita GDPs of
> one-tenth of America's, have more modern political systems (run on
> proportional representation) than we do. Meanwhile, the US continues to
> stumble along with its 18-century first-past-the-post electoral system, as
> if nothing has changed since the days of the thirteen colonies.
>
> We're talking 1792 political technology, folks. Would you want your
> *dentist* to work you over with 18th century instruments? Nope. Why should
> the business of Government be any different?
> >>
> A terrible argument. I would like proportional representation, but not because
> the American system is old.
Actually, the idea of Proportional Representation dates back to the 18th Century, too. Condorcet wrote about it, for one.
> In fact, (a) it's very successful and stable and accoredingly
> widely imitated asa model by newer systems,
That's not true. Different forms of proportional representation are far more common than our winner-takes-all system.
> and (b) it's not that "old"--it has beec\n contantly reinvented
> through constitutional amendments, court decisions, legislative
> action, and administrative reform. The administrative regulatory
> state (just for one) is a 20th century invention.
None of this has anything to do with the system of electing legislatures that we use. Our system is so bad it doesn't deserve to be called "representative." And this has nothing to do with class politics. I'm talking basic mathematical mechanics.
I'm supposedly "represented" by a Republican in Congress. Elsewhere there are Republicans supposedly "represented" by Democrats. Altogether in Claifornia there are enough Greens that we could send a memeber to Congress--but we can't because our system represents geographical districts (cut up all funny to protect incumbents, but let's ignore the imperfections, and put the BEST possible light on it), NOT people. This is the real sense in which our system is antiquated -- and it harkens back to the Middle Ages, NOT the 18th Century.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"