(NOTE: This is a repost of an article that was originally posted two weeks ago. I'll be resuming this series tomorrow with a new article discussing ideas for proportional representation in the US House and Senate.) A while back I discussed the shortcomings of the first-past-the-post voting system that we currently use to elect most of our politicians in this country, and reviewed several alternatives to FPTP that could be utilized within a single-winner system (if you'd like to read the articles, they can be found here, here, and here). Instant runoff voting, range voting, and approval voting are all... Continue reading

This is just an update to apologize again for my extended absence and let those of you who follow the blog know that I'm not abandoning it, just taking a bit of a break for a few days. I was working on a series of articles about proportional representation when I hit a wall creatively and intellectually, and also had a few hurdles pop up in my offline life, so I decided to hide from my blogs for a short while and see if I could recharge my batteries. My tentative plan is to return next Monday with new articles,... Continue reading

Per my previous article posted on Monday, I had intended to post a follow-up yesterday (and, when that didn't work out, today) offering a proposal for how to achieve proportional representation in the House and Senate, with a simulation of how Congress might look today if such a proposal were implemented. Unfortunately, the research and number-crunching involved in completing the simulation has proven to be more difficult and time-intensive than I had originally expected, so I will not be able to publish my article until tomorrow. I apologize for the delay, and in the interim I'll just say that based... Continue reading

For those who are interested, I posted the first in what will ultimately be a series of articles about proportional representation, and how it could be done here in the US, over at my other blog yesterday. I'll be publishing my next installment tomorrow, with a proposal for PR in... Continue reading

Don't know much yet about the Modern Whig Party, except that I'm guessing the revived party has had to update its platform considerably since the original party was dissolved in the 1850's. I'm a raging leftie, so I'm not sure that I'd be able to get behind the Whigs, but it's nonetheless interesting (and heartening) to see that the desire for political reform and viable political parties outside the Republican/Democratic duopoly is manifesting itself throughout the political continuum, and not just on the fringes. From a press release received yesterday: Modern Whigs the anti-Tea Party? Revived by post-9/11 veterans &... Continue reading

While rummaging around on YouTube recently, I came across this video featuring a song that I remember from my childhood, one that still makes my skin crawl a little: Now, before we go any further, a bit of disclosure is probably necessary on my part: I was raised in a... Continue reading

Obama's health care summit, that is: The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cThe Apparent Trapwww.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Crisis The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cThe Word - Political Suicidewww.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorSkate Expectations Continue reading

A while back I discussed the shortcomings of the first-past-the-post voting system that we currently use to elect most of our politicians in this country, and reviewed several alternatives to FPTP that could be utilized within a single-winner system (if you'd like to read the articles, they can be found here, here, and here). Instant runoff voting, range voting, and approval voting are all options that would mark a significant improvement over the widely acknowledged deficiencies in the way that votes are cast and counted under FPTP voting, but each of these systems are still plagued by the same shortcoming... Continue reading

The word "politico" has been a part of the English language for almost four centuries now, but the blowjobs over at the American political newspaper/web site of the same name have done such a smash-up job of sullying the word with their unique blend of right-wing hackery and journalistic incompetence... Continue reading

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Many of you who are reading this are already acquainted with me and have followed me here from either Twitter or one of the handful of political blogs and other sites I frequent. So first of all, thanks for taking a leap in the dark and checking out this blog.... Continue reading

Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a framework today for legislation intended to counter the effects of last month's Citizens United ruling. According to Van Hollen and Schumer, the two have been coordinating with the Obama administration, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to craft legislation but have yet to find any Republicans willing to support their efforts--not even John McCain, who was once an ardent supporter of campaign finance reform but has lurched to the right recently in a desperate attempt to keep his Senate seat and fend... Continue reading

First of all, an apology: I haven't posted anything really substantial for the past few days, mostly because I'm in the process of trying to redesign this blog as well as create a new blog (more on that in a moment). That and other pressing issues have left me with little time to work on new articles, so it will probably be at least Monday before I post anything as substantive as my articles about ballot access reform, fusion ticketing and alternative voting systems. Once things settle down a bit, however, I promise to get back to business. In the... Continue reading

A new national poll taken last week confirms what many of us who support campaign finance reform have suspected: that Americans are extremely unhappy with the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case, and they want Congress to take action on needed reform measures. According to the Angus Reid Public Opinion poll, 65% of Americans disagree with the CU ruling, with a broad consensus among Republicans (63% disagree with the ruling), Democrats (66%), and independents (72%). And 69% of respondents indicated agreement with the statement: "The decision hands more influence to lobbyists and special interest groups to tip the... Continue reading

Marnie Glickman, co-chair of the Green Party's platform committee, has announced that the party is rewriting its platform, and is issuing an open invitation for people to participate in an online collaborative process for doing so: The Green platform represents our movement’s collective aspirations for an American society based on peace, justice, democracy and sustainability. In the spirit of grassroots democracy, we want to maximize participation in the platform amendment process. So we’ve posted the 2004 Green platform, section by section, and we invite you to post your suggestions on how to improve it. [...] We have until February 15th... Continue reading

Reform advocacy group Common Cause has announced that it is teaming with Public Campaign, MoveOn.Org, and 34 other organizations to canvass this week on behalf of campaign finance reform and the Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752, H.R.1826). The Week of Action will take place over the next 5 days, running from February 1-5, during which participants will be speaking out ob behalf of FENA, delivering petitions, and contacting members of Congress: Action Week activities include: Phone banking. We will be calling activists around the country to encourage them to contact their members of Congress in support of the Fair... Continue reading

For those of you who are interested, I've created a Twitter feed for this web site. It will include links to my articles here at AOTME, as well as news links relating to political reform, minor parties and independent candidates/voters. There's a lot of reform news happening around the country that I haven't had the time to write about in any meaningful way, and I think this is a better way to point those of you who are interested in the direction of that news instead of just posting lists of links here on my blog. I hope you'll take... Continue reading

Richard Winger at Ballot Access News reports that the Delaware legislature has passed a law doubling the number of registrants required for a minor party to be recognized. HB 245 was passed by the Delaware Senate on Thursday and now awaits the signature of the state's Democratic governor, Jack Markell. If signed into law by Markell, the bill could affect ballot access for several parties, including the Green Party, Working Families Party, Constitution Party, and Socialist Workers Party. According to Winger, the bill's requirements would be onerous for minor parties because voters in Delaware can’t change their registration from one... Continue reading

While I was pleased to hear some of the things that President Obama said in his State of the Union address last night, I was nonetheless disappointed that he failed to use the opportunity to seize the initiative on campaign finance reform. He did a decent job in some other areas striking a populist tone with a few of his policy proposals, including his call for a jobs bill, fees on big banks, and the urgency of increased financial regulation. But he was still frustratingly vague on details in many instances, and some of his proposals sound like stuff that... Continue reading

As the White House, Congressional leaders, and reform advocates attempt to formulate a plan of action in the aftermath of the Citizens United v. FEC ruling, a series of upcoming court rulings hold the potential of further eroding the already shaky status of campaign finance regulation in this country. USA Today has an article up higlighting a few of these cases. First up is Speechnow vs. FEC, with a federal appeals panel in Washington holding oral arguments to consider the question of whether it's constitutional to limit contributions to committees that make only independent expenditures (federal law currently caps individual... Continue reading

Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog reports that the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will be hearing oral arguments tomorrow in another important case related to campaign finance, SpeechNow v. FEC. At issue is the question of whether it's constitutional to limit contributions to committees that make only independent expenditures -- federal law currently caps individual contributions to federal PACs at $5,000. The lower court in the SpeechNow case held that the provision was constitutional, but a panel of the D.C. Circuit has said that such contribution limits are unconstitutional. Hasen points out that a ruling in... Continue reading

Not content with the solutions being offered thus far to counter the Supreme Court's full frontal assault on campaign finance regulation, progressive firebrand Alan Grayson has offered a bold legislative agenda to promote the cause of reform. The Florida congressman's "Save Our Democracy" platform, originally introduced to Congress several days before the Citizens United ruling, includes five bills that would attempt to neuter its effects: The "Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act" (H.R. 4431 - PDF) would impose a 500% excise tax on corporate contributions to PACs and other political expenditures. The "Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act" (H.R. 4432 -... Continue reading

While the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United v. FEC case dealt a severe blow to the cause of campaign finance reform, it didn't kill the cause altogether. In the wake of the CU ruling, the battle for reform is now being shifted to different fronts. Democratic congressman Chris Van Hollen is working with Chuck Schumer in the Senate to craft broad campaign finance legislation in an attempt to mitigate the damage done by the CU ruling. According to Van Hollen, the legislation will include a ban on political donations from foreign-owned companies. Democratic leaders will be working with... Continue reading