> > (1) As I have said before, countries that have proportional
>> representational systems don't seen to have any stronger Lefts than we
>> do
>
>Yes they do. The EU has a wide range of formidable Left parties. They're
>not perfect, but they've resisted the Maastricht wrecking ball, they've
>constructed powerful welfare states, they've fomented mighty labor
>movements, and they routinely draw enormous numbers of people into
>politics.
It all depends on how you define "Left". But whether its true or not is irrelevant, PR isn't designed to create a stronger left, its purpose is merely to ensure that political power is apportioned according to popular support.
By American standards the dominant Liberal Party and Australian Labor Party would also be regarded as "left" parties. But more realistically, in Australia the Greens are generally recognised as being on the left and, to a lesser extent, so are the Australian Democrats. The Greens, whose policy platform includes such things as a guaranteed minimum income, are the closest thing to a socialist party currently represented in any Australian parliament.
So the relevant question is, in countries with proportional representation, does the left has more actual political power than it does in the US. The answer is clearly yes. However representation only reflect actual popular support, so it isn't necessarily so.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas
PS: the following was also quoted:
> > (2) The electoral college will probably never be abolished
As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong) the electoral college is used to elect the US President, not the houses of Congress. Proportional representation is only applicable to election of multi-member constituencies and the US Presidency is a single-member constituency. So abolishing the electoral college system is merely another red herring from Jon, in the context of a discussion of the merits of proportional representation. (Suggesting that he has only the vaguest idea what PR is.)
The US President can't be directly elected by PR anyhow, but a highly progressive reform would be to have each state's electoral college elected by Proportional Representation. This would permit the retention, indeed the enhancing, of features desirable for small state representation in a federated nation like the US.