The voice of reason

[auburnatl1 5,038]

“Today there are only about twenty-four moderate Democrats or Republicans serving in Congress? Fifty years ago, that number was over six times higher”

https://www.davispoliticalreview.com/article/voice-of-reason-how-moderates-can-help-save-america?format=amp

[SaltyTiger 7,860]

8 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

“Today there are only about twenty-four moderate Democrats or Republicans serving in Congress? Fifty years ago, that number was over six times higher”

https://www.davispoliticalreview.com/article/voice-of-reason-how-moderates-can-help-save-america?format=amp

Good article Natl. May be a bit too simplistic and to the point for some folks. 

“found that the percentage of moderate voters is relatively high at thirty-seven percent. These polls indicate a significant disparity between the number of moderate government officials currently serving in Congress and the proportion of voters they represent. “

[CoffeeTiger 5,179]

Nothing is going to change until moderates start voting in numbers at least equivalent to the extremes of both parties. 

That doesn't have a chance of happening unless election/voting reform is done to make voting easier, more encourages, or to give moderates a boost. 

 

The issue is that both parties like the way the voting system works for the most part because at this point most of America has been gerrymandered into areas that are guaranteed to vote either Republican or Democrat in all elections all the time. 

There is 0 incentive for politicians to pass election laws that may have a chance of helping the other party (even moderates of the other party) to possibly win future elections, or of weakening their own power base.

 

Take Alabama for example. Republicans in Alabama are VEHIMENTLY opposed to ANY election reform or changes that could loosen the Republican parties grip on the state in any way, which ALL the proposed voting reform in the OP's article and linked articles could do.  

Examples include straight party voting where you check one tick mark on a ballot to automatically vote for ALL the candidates of one party on the ballot automatically. You don't even have to bother looking at names or knowing who is running. You just either vote all R or all D. 

This makes no sense and doesn't result in qualified or competent people being elected because all that matters is the R or D by their name, but because a majority of straight party voting tickets lean Republican, GOP law makers will never agree to change it. 

Alabama, like many other Republican states, are also moving to make it literally ILLEGAL to have 'ranked choice voting' reform happen in the state. They say they are making it illegal because they think voters are too dumb to understand it and it would confuse people, but Again, the real reason is because they see it as a way that Democrats could start getting wins in elections through it or moderate Republicans who don't completely agree with the AL GOP agenda might start poking through the cracks. 

 

 

So ultimatelyYES I completely agree that we need moderates to vote more and to win more elections..100%...the problem is that so far nobody has been able to offer up any actual solution or fix that is actually realistic or capable of being accomplished in our current system. 

As per the article, moderates have made up a large portion of the American electorate for DECADES and DECADES...yet the power and influence of Moderates have only ever decreased and they are as politically impotent as they've ever been. Nobody seems to really know how to change or reverse this. 

 

[homersapien 11,447]

It's amazing how many relatively easy solutions exist to fix our obviously broken political system.