Four ways to fix the government

 First eliminate the Electoral College.

Conservatives whine that they do not want to get rid of it because they don't want to be ruled by decisions of people in New York and California. Which seems bigoted. Those are both large and diverse states. It is code for “liberal” but truthfully, they are more mixed politicly than most states in the conservative South. Proof it is bigoted: They don’t mention Texas which has 10 million more people than New York, but it is conservative, so it works against their argument.

The problem with the EC is just that it flips their concern around giving more power to 1-3 swing states. In 2000 a mere 537 votes in Florida counted more than the 543,816 nationwide votes.

In 2016 they credit the upsets in Wisconsin (122,748 vote difference), Pennsylvania (44,292) and Michigan (10,704) as why Clinton lost. Meaning 177,744 votes spread across three states counted more than the almost 3 million nationwide votes.

There is something intrinsically broken here in terms of representation when one party has gotten the most votes in 4 of the last 5 elections but "lost" 3 out of those same 5.

 

Second Make the Senate Representational.

If the country had a senate based on population it would better represent the country. California’s senators represent almost 20 million people each, while Wyoming’s senators represent 286,191 each. That’s slightly less than a 1:80 ratio. The lack of representation extends out like ripples in a pond. Even though they have a majority, Republicans they represent 15 million less Americans than their Democratic colleagues and using this majority they denied Obama (who actually got the most votes) a SCOTUS selection giving Trump the opportunity to select his third. That means a 6th GOP justice (making the court 6-3) will be nominated by president who lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes and will be confirmed by senators representing 15 million less Americans.

This is not representational government.  It’s tyranny of the minority.

  

Third Eliminate Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is redrawing political districts in states to favor one party over the other. Both parties do it (although republicans do it more), and they do it to keep “safe” seats. But the problem with “safe” seats is both complacency and intractability. Eliminating gerrymandering means elected officials must change with the times as issues evolve and make compromises to appeal to voters across the political spectrum. They must address issues at a local level instead of nationalizing local elections. This will reduce extremes in both parties, which reduces rhetoric and fosters cooperation since they have to win the votes of a cross section of society and not just a sampling of their own party.

 

Fourth Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (and make sure it extends to internet outlets).

Instated in 1949 by the FCC to ensure honest, equitable and balanced presentation of controversial issues, the fairness doctrine was eliminated by Reagan in 1987. This gave rise to infotainment of Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio. This has led to people getting information not based on truth or accuracy but rather what they are comfortable with based on their implicit biases. Sadly, when given an option many people will not base their opinions of facts (as it should be) but rather seeking out information that reinforces their existing beliefs even if it is not true. Over the decades it has been weaponized. Legitimate media has been vilified by propaganda. Science and provable facts have been repeatedly ignored. Foreign adversaries have used social media to take advantage of it putting out misinformation. Websites like The Blaze and Breitbart put out information to create division and resentment sometimes using false information and other times using true information but taking it out so of context that it can be interpreted as meaning the opposite of what it actually says.  This type of Infotainment has resulted conservatives demonizing the left so completely that people believe we are pedophiles that are trafficking children in pizza parlor basements and drinking their blood to stay young. That is an actual conspiracy theory on the right. It has gone mainstream with actual representatives saying they believe it and actual office holders refusing to denounce it. Nonsense this extreme would not have reached a national level if the Fairness Doctrine were still in effect.