It’s the electoral system, stupid!
Because of my concerns for education, universities, science and the future of a rational world ...
For my children and grandchildren ... and anyone else who might be interested …
I was struck by this chilling image on the cover of a recent edition of a reputable newspaper, The Economist.
Inside the cover, the Economist writes: “A mafia-like struggle for global power has begun …”
Other terms which this scary image conveys to me are patriarchal, authoritarian, dictatorial, monarchical, theocratic, etc. I have never supported or wanted any people to live under such regimes!
No, I believe in the rights of every human being to participate in the governance of our societies across the planet. I have always supported democratic governments as envisioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted under the guidance of that famous American First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, using words which I find inspirational: “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
Given the result of the 2024 US presidential election, it seems that about 50% of Americans support “The Don’s New World Order”. Whatever happened to the claim by America that it has been leading the world to a wonderful democratic future?
Across all forms of media, so many seem dismayed by the tsunami of foundational changes - precipitated by the election of the President of just one nation, the USA. And some wonder: can the US Supreme Court help? can the US Congress help? can US citizens who don’t like what’s happening do anything about it? what can those of us outside the US do (as we are being affected too)?
How did this come about? Is it really because there are so many Republican voters who support this regime? Is it because so many former Democratic voters shifted to the right? Is it because so many voters didn’t bother to vote? Or is it due, fundamentally, to America’s archaic electoral system?
Sadly, since America’s dominant performance in World War II, too many Americans, who have ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’ during their education and experienced luxury ‘First World’ living conditions, have absorbed the ideology of America’s exceptionalism. As a consequence, many do not think sufficiently about the root cause of what has happened; nor do they look outside America for possible solutions.
Why am I, a retired Australian scientist, banging on about this? Well, I emigrated on a fiancé visa to the USA in 1976, married, had children, resided, worked and paid taxes for 5 years. Then, after experiencing poor employment prospects, returned to my homeland and its imperfect democracy. Naturally, I have reflected a lot on our different countries and systems of governance over the past 50 years.
Yes, I contend that “It’s the electoral system, stupid!”
Of course, it is not just the US electoral system. We could mention the UK, with its silly first-past-the-post voting and its remnant House of Lords which has tried miserably to defend itself. According to the Economist, there is a need for constitutional change in Britain. Australia’s electoral system is also imperfect and in need of improvement - but it possesses some robust features; more on that later.
Here is a snapshot of some recent writings relating to these electoral systems, in approximate chronological order …
Before the recent American election, in November 2023, US historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote that “right-wing extremism is accomplishing its goal of destroying faith in democracy”. She expresses despair, perhaps as the post is confined only to events within America. I ask, why don’t more Americans consider lessons from elsewhere in the world, from nations that do not demonstrate such alarming threats to democracy?
In a rare example of looking outside America, Richard Hasen wrote in the NY Times, in January 2024, how America’s democracy lacks features of other successful democracies. He points out “the high cost of living with an old Constitution” and how “Unlike the constitutions of many other advanced democracies, the U.S. Constitution contains no affirmative right to vote”. Surely that is worth fixing?
Much more thinking outside the confines of the US electoral system is needed. The fact that individual US States determine how a Federal election is conducted defies the logic of America calling itself the United States of America!
A recent article by Nick Corasaniti and Michael Wines in the NY Times titled “The Death of Competition in American Elections” highlights some of the faults of the US electoral system, with its primaries attracting so little attention from voters. They conclude: “A vast majority of 2024 races for Congress and state legislatures were decided by low-turnout or meaningless primaries”. “This reality (the low number of competitive elections) has helped Mr. Trump expand his ranks of loyal lawmakers in Congress and crush nearly all dissent in his party”.
This conclusion is supported by Maggie Astor who wrote in the NY Times, in January 2024, of the confusion that different processes for primaries between parties and states, such as in New Hampshire and Nevada, leads to low voter turn-out and fuels distrust in elections. An impartial observer might be forgiven for saying “this is crazy!”.
In March 2024, the Editorial Board of the New York Times wrote that “Trump’s Conquest of the Republican Party Matters to Every American”. But it fails to acknowledge the serious flaws in America’s electoral system and how his conquest also matters for everyone else in the world!
Again in the NY Times, Doug Sosnik writes, in April 2024, of the chances of different candidates winning the Presidential election based on partitioning of Electoral College votes. He argues that just 7 out of 50 States were likely to determine the outcome and yet his analysis does not question the sense of such an antiquated system. How representative is that?
Another pillar of American democracy is in trouble too. In June 2024, Maureen Dowd of the NY Times suggests that the US Supreme Court, is “in the hands of a cabal of religious and far-right zealots” and that it is “corrupt, rotten and hurting America”!
Around the same time, reflecting on the recent swing to the right in Europe, Guardian columnist and author, George Monbiot suggested it was due to a long-term failure of democratic politics. He suggests that, over many years, a neoliberal consensus has been developing which aims to cut public services and enhance the rights of big money with the support of "billionaires in the background". He also sees problems with the UK electoral system where the “first-past-the-post (voting) system reduces the UK's choice in elections”.
Back in the USA, in July 2024, Thomas Friedman in the NY Times, wonders if American democracy can survive the re-election of Donald Trump. It amazes me that he was nominated and then elected given that, according to Friedman: “those who worked most intimately with him in his first term — including his vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state, chief of staff, national security adviser, press secretary, communications director and attorney general — … warned the country in speeches, interviews and memoirs that Trump is erratic, immoral and someone who must never be let near the White House again”!
In August 2024, Eric Beecher - an experienced Australian journalist, editor and media proprietor - spoke of the challenges posed by media owners on democracy in Australia when he was interviewed about his new book: ‘The Men Who Killed the News: The inside story of how media moguls abused their power, manipulated the truth, and distorted democracy’. Of course, several of the world’s destructive media players could be viewed as Australia’s most malign exports!
According to historian Heather Cox Richardson, in August 2024, many at the Democratic National Convention in Wisconsin spoke of their concern for America’s democracy - but without mention of any weaknesses of America’s electoral system. However, Cox Richardson noted the importance of the 2010 Supreme Court ruling which concluded that “corporations and other outside groups could spend as much money as they wanted on elections”. While exhorting the faithful to back the candidacy of Kamala Harris, former First Lady, Michele Obama, said “this is our time to stand up for … the values at the very foundation of this democracy.”
Australian historian, Don Watson, in his Quarterly Essay (‘High Noon’) on the upcoming 2024 US election, makes the same point about the extraordinary Supreme Court decision based on the Constitution’s free speech amendment:
“Money drives US politics. Big money opposed the New Deal from the day it began, and it still hasn’t given up. Big money – mainly the Koch brothers’ – was behind the Tea Party and the Tea Party was the raw material for MAGA. Big money became much bigger in 2010, when, in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court voted 5–4 to allow corporations and outside groups to donate unlimited amounts of money to candidates for office. As the judges in the majority explained it, to do otherwise would be a breach of the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech. What it did guarantee was new ways to buy influence.”
The principal donors to the 2024 election campaign, up to September of that year, were detailed by Theodore Schleifer in a NY Times article titled ‘Who Are the Biggest Donors to Trump and Harris?’. Up to that time, at least $1.3b had been donated to both campaign candidates (excluding ‘dark’ money contributions)! That is a heck of a lot of influence!
In short, the American federal electoral system: is destroying faith in democracy, does not affirm the right to vote, is run differently by different States, is dominated by the Electoral College votes determined in as few as 7 out of the 50 States, prevents genuine competition among candidates, discourages voter turn-out, confuses voters in primaries and is corrupted by money. It is also noteworthy that the US Supreme Court is unlikely to fix the situation as it has been corrupted due to undisguised political influence.
Does anyone else in the world agree with me that what I have described above is a crazy, outdated electoral system? America must look outside its bubble if it is to find solutions.
To provide some context for consideration of several alternative electoral processes, allow me to quote liberally from an article in The Saturday Paper (September 2024) titled ‘How voting systems change outcomes’ by one of Australia’s most knowledgeable persons, Barry Jones AC, ‘Australian writer, teacher, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion, and former politician in the Australian Labor Party’:
“The voting system and electoral redistributions in Australian Commonwealth elections are undoubtedly world’s best practice, especially for the House of Representatives, which determines the fate of governments.
The secret ballot was pioneered in the Australian colonies and first conducted in Victoria in August–October 1856.
Women achieved the right to vote and to stand as federal candidates in 1902. The United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada delayed female franchise to 1918 and the United States to 1920.
The federal election of December 13, 1919, was the first with a preferential voting system to replace “first past the post”.
Compulsory registration and turning up to vote was adopted in Australia in 1924.
In February 1984, the Australian Electoral Commission was established by the Hawke government. The commission conducts elections and manages the redistribution of electoral divisions, acting quasi-judicially, without political interference, after each census. Its operations are exceptionally transparent. Its boundary determinations do not require adoption by the parliament.
In the United States, boundaries for congressional districts for the House of Representatives are determined by individual states. In 33 states the boundaries are determined by state legislatures, on partisan lines with extensive gerrymandering from both Republicans and Democrats. Nine states, including California, Washington, Arizona, Colorado and New York, give the redistribution process to independent panels.
The Commonwealth (of Australia) has had Saturday voting since 1903”.
A few of these characteristics would no doubt alarm some readers, especially those from America with their zeal for absolute freedom. Those readers may be surprised to learn that some of the popular features of Australia’s electoral system include: preferential voting (which allows the voter to place a particularly undesirable candidate last), compulsory registration and turning up to vote (this doesn’t prevent people lodging ‘informal’ votes but it avoids the extraordinary efforts and inducements made in the USA to entice citizens to ‘get out and vote’; it also ensures a high participation rate in our democracy), the Australian Electoral Commission is highly trusted by the electorate (there is no gerrymandering; States do not decide how the Federal election is run) and Saturday voting.
Of course, Australia’s electoral system is not perfect and would benefit from some improvements, especially in elections for the Senate and the need to transform our archaic constitution which was drafted during colonial times. I will leave these improvements for discussion at another time.
If our societies are to enjoy effective democratic systems of governance, let them develop or adopt national constitutions that reduce the chances of patriarchal, authoritarian, dictatorial, monarchical or theocratic regimes gaining control of our nations.
Why are societies reluctant to amend flawed constitutions? In my view, all nations should resolve to amend archaic, fossilized constitutions and commit to a process of continuous improvement so that more perfect systems of governance evolve over time. If this were to happen, the new world order would benefit from less corruption, less conflicts of interest, greater equality among all citizens and less war.
John Lennon exhorted us to ‘Imagine’ how “… the world will live in peace”. Let’s make it happen by striving for more perfect electoral systems across the entire world!