We need to add 6k seats to Congress

(usatoday.com)

14 points | by Cider9986 10 hours ago ago

9 comments

  • Veliladon 5 hours ago ago

    Yep. Take every seat, make it 15 seats. Ideally we’d have ranked choice and STV. Something like how Australia has a quota system for Senators being elected. People who achieve 1/16th of the votes get a seat, distribute preferences, repeat until all seats are full.

    • thechao 3 hours ago ago

      I still think biased sortition is the way: after voting, eliminate any candidate with less than (say) 1/11th the vote. Choose the winner proportional to the number of votes they received. It has the following nice properties:

      1. Extreme candidates have very little chance of winning;

      2. The system is (formally) fair in the long run; and,

      3. It secures the election against tampering from both domestic and foreign actors.

      Also, frankly, the sort of person who's good at winning an election is almost diametrically opposite from the sort of person you want as a leader. It's hard to combine "ideologue" with "rational compromise ready actor".

  • mathgeek 4 hours ago ago

    I’d love to see the debate over adding 6k salaries for Congress. That’d be a hoot and the likely plan of attack for the dissenters.

    • soganess 2 hours ago ago

      1.5 Billion? Less than that 1.776B slush fund.

  • ncr100 5 hours ago ago

    What is the chance that the US population majority will recognize this need and push for some kind of gerrymandering fix that includes a democratic upgrade?

    • condis 2 hours ago ago

      I’d put my money on 0%

  • FrankWilhoit 6 hours ago ago

    USA Today needs to read Coase.

  • burnt-resistor 3 hours ago ago

    Do you want regular or extra gerrymandering with that? And how about AIPAC and gold bar bribes?

  • know-how 6 hours ago ago

    [dead]