Want to end partisan politics? Here’s what won’t work — and what will

[muriel_volestrangler]

This is from Mann and Ornstein, who wrote the recent Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem article, so, when they're talking about 'partisan politics' at the moment, they mainlly mean the extreme RW stuff currently dominating the Republicans.

Political dysfunction. Partisanship at record levels. Attack politics run amok. And public approval of Congress scraping the single digits (Sen. John McCain is fond of saying it’s down to blood relatives and paid staff).

We’ve all heard the laments — we’ve made some of them ourselves — that Washington is broken, that our political system can’t grapple with the nation’s big, long-term problems. So what can be done about it? Unfortunately, the cures that get tossed around are often misguided, sometimes even worse than the disease. Here are five much-praised solutions we should avoid, followed by four that have a chance to make a meaningful difference.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-end-partisan-politics-heres-what-wont-work--and-what-will/2012/05/17/gIQA5jqcWU_print.html

Their list of what won't work:

A third party to the rescue

Term limits will save us

A balanced-budget amendment can fix the economy

Public financing of elections will restrain special interests

Stay calm — things will get back to normal eventually

and what they think would:

Realistic campaign finance reform

Converting votes into seats

Restoring majority rule in the Senate

Expanding the electorate

"Converting votes into seats" is trying to end gerrymandering by putting districting into the hand of independent commissions. I think this is one where they're too optimistic about what could be done - I think too many state politicians will hang on for dear life to their ability to gerrymander (compare that with their attitude to campaign finance, which they blame the current Supreme Court for, but say there's no realistic chance of reversing Citizens United, so we should settle for properly enforcing disclosure and separation from campaigns). They also advocate instant runoff voting, which fits in with their 'expanding the electorate' ideas - if you go for compulsory voting, or at least getting far more people registered, this allows those who aren't in the 'base' of one of the 2 main parties a way to register their views, without splitting the vote from one side of the political spectrum.

[zeemike]

1. I think they are right about 3 out of 4

But I feel that Realistic campaign finance reform should be total campaign finance reform that makes it illegal for any special interest group to contribute in any way to a politician....and have total public financing of it...but then I guess I am a radical I guess.

[longship]

2. Voter Lottery?

Here's one of weirder ideas. But I think I like it.

Finally, if we can’t persuade more Americans to vote with the threat of a fine, how about the promise of untold riches? Millions lined up — sometimes wasting all night — for a shot at the Mega Millions lottery in March. How about another lottery, where your vote stub is a ticket, and where the prize is the money collected from the fines of those who didn’t vote? The odds of the mega-jackpot were about 1 in 176 million — we’d like to believe that the chances of fixing American politics are a bit better than that.

Think about it a sec or two.