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MAKING OUR DEMOCRACY WORK

MAKING OUR DEMOCRACY WORK. Some of the big questions we want to answer this week: What do you mean, America’s government was purposefully designed not to work?... Why on earth would our framers do that? What are the big democratic trade offs we made at the founding?

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MAKING OUR DEMOCRACY WORK

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  1. MAKING OUR DEMOCRACY WORK Some of the big questions we want to answer this week: • What do you mean, America’s government was purposefully designed not to work?... Why on earth would our framers do that? • What are the big democratic trade offs we made at the founding? • What big choices did we make afterwards? Did the Founders think we would change? Would they have been mad at us for changing? Would they think we were idiots for being so resistant to change? • Could we do better if we were to rewrite the constitution? Have we been doing better around the world?

  2. What big choices do democracies HAVE TO make? • Why do we have a written constitution? Is it good to have a limited list of what gov can do (enumerated liberties) and explicit liberties? • Why is our constitution so hard to amend, anyway? What are other countries doing with their written constitutions these days? • Anyone prefer a parliamentary system with a prime minister? What price do we pay for having a president? Any plusses to presidentialism? Can the two systems be mixed (Russia, France)? • Why do we have so many checks and balances (vs. just separations of power)? Are there other options to having six or more branches of govt? Should super majorities (filibuster?) be required to pass everything? Couldn’t we at least have concurrent elections? • How much federalism is a good thing? How much sense does the “Great Compromise” make today? Is geographical representation the type of minority empowerment we need or want? One person, one vote or equal geog. Representation?

  3. What big choices do democracies Have to make? • How much independ. power should courts have? Should judges have life terms? Should they have judicial review over all elected officials? Should justices get to decide when they will be replaced? What kind of legislative majority (or consensus) should be required in the “advise and consent” process? Should constitutional, appellate, & electoral courts be separate? • Should we have parts of the government other than the courts where the officials are insulated from democracy? Do we have this? • Should political systems systematically ensure the representation of political minorities? What about economic minorities and labor (for example, corporatism like Germany)? How is this done? • How often should we be able remove bad governments? What is the best process for replacement? Any plusses term limits? Are fixed terms (vs. no confidence votes) a good thing? • Direct vs. representative democracy: Are referenda, initiatives, & recalls a good idea now that we have the technology to make it happen? What about deliberative democracy?

  4. HOW DO ELECTORAL AND INTEREST SYSTEMS VARY? HOW DEMOCRATIC IS OUR SYSTEM? What are the big choices in electoral systems? • Why pluralism instead of corporatism as our primary way of thinking about representation? • Staggered or concurrent elections? Should we periodically get to elect all of our government actors from top to bottom? • What’s are the differences b/w winner-take all (aka SMD or plurality) systems and PR (proportional representation)? • Larger multi-member vs. smaller single member districts: What can we learn from looking at the Senate vs. the House? • Can you have SMD without gerrymandering? Are their any advantages to gerrymandering? What are the costs? • How about ranked voting or plurality voting? Would they be better than what we have now for representing the majority? Ranked voting sounds confusing, but it just means that you can rank candidates, so that your vote will transfer to your second-choice candidate if the first option can’t win (i.e., Green party candidate vote -> a Democrat. The Fair Represenation movement in the US is one that combines PR and ranked voting in multimember districts for Congress.

  5. The Party with Fewer Votes Wins? Frequently with single member district systems (example US Senate) http://www.vox.com/2015/1/6/7500935/trende-senate-vote-share

  6. The Party with Fewer Votes Wins US Elections? Gerrymandering makes House worse (example Ohio) http://www.vox.com/cards/gerrymandering-explained/what-are-the-most-gerrymandered-house-delegations

  7. HOW DO ELECTORAL AND INTEREST SYSTEMS VARY? HOW DEMOCRATIC IS OUR SYSTEM? What are the big choices for party systems? • Why do parties what they do and why do they matter so much across political systems? • Any preferred system?: One party, multi-party and two-party systems are all found in democracies. • Open vs. closed candidate lists (PR)/Primaries (plurality): How much power should parties have in selecting their own candidates for public office? • Open vs. closed primaries? • How should we fund elections?

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