“the will of the people”. “The people have spoken”, etc… We hear this a lot these days from politicians and talking heads, but I’m not certain we are truly reflecting anything remotely akin to a real representation. Now in a small town with only a couple of hundred or even a few thousand residents, it could be safely said that a candidate who wins with 55 % of the vote is reflecting a reasonable accounting of the politics of the region. It is probably likely that the opposition was not terribly different in viewpoints anyway, both being locals who share a similar subculture and values set.
However, it just doesn’t scale up.
As a whole we are so diverse, culturally, ethnically, politically, etc that it can hardly be fairly stated that in districts of hundreds of thousands, and over 300 million as country that a 51% victory is reflecting anything meaningful. Add in the divisiveness of politics and perhaps it is time for a change.
I suggest the following: For all congressional and presidential elections a candidate must win a super majority of no less than 66% of the vote to be elected as the sole holder of the office. Those elections that do not produce a widely supported candidate should then be co chaired by the two highest scoring candidates as a joint coalition.
Coalition seats need not be represented in session by both persons, but votes must include the non present member. Given today’s technology this is possible with minimal fuss and expense. Further, in positions like state governor, joint resolutions must be passed. Legislation cannot take effect without agreement between the chairs.
Now I expect that such a system would handicap the effectiveness of government in some respects, but I suggest to you that it would produce a more moderate, accurate representation of the will of the electorate while preventing the most egregious abuses of power.
For example, If we had Joint Presidents, congress would be foolish to waste time making political statements with legislation since they likely have a guy in office already. There is no point in grandstanding. Instead, they are going to produce legislation that should be far closer to meeting with wide approval. Lefties won’t get anything overly left passed, and righties will be in the same boat. If they want to avoid that reality, they will need to field a candidate that can win broad support from across the electorate.