“The entire system is structured to perpetuate power.” That’s the core problem with Congress today. It’s focused on protecting incumbents, enforcing party loyalty, and sustaining the two-party duopoly—not on representing the American people and upholding the Constitution. Spoke about “The Two-Party Problem” last month at The Richmond Forum with... Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 and Senator Joe Manchin. What one change to the rules or incentives would you make first to actually fix it? Your thoughts 👇show more

@richmondforum Ban the practice of taxation. A government that is not funded voluntarily is a government that lacks the consent of the governed.

@TedBrownLiberty @richmondforum I keep saying it. We live in a duopoly run by oligarchs! Donors, not voters, are the customers.

Yes, when I talk about this, I theorize that whenever a new Senator or House member gets to Washington, their party leader takes them into a room where it’s explained that they have to go in lockstep with the leadership to get the best committee assignments, fundraising connections, and even office space. Justin Amash can probably confirm some version of that.

@LP_CLC @richmondforum

@richmondforum We have a few ideas.

@LP_CLC @richmondforum Also, RCV is a scam for reformers. It fails because it doesn't count support simultaneously. Support is conditional, just like in FPTP. Approval, STAR, and Condorcet actually escape the two-party lock, because they consider all input on all candidates.

@LP_CLC @richmondforum Adopt Approval voting.

@richmondforum Term limits would be a good first step. Without the incentive of a career in Congress, the duopoly will begin to break.

@richmondforum Abolish citizens united. Make gerrymandering illegal & reset voting districts. Simplify Federal Reserve mandate to single: keep inflation low.

@richmondforum I cannot see anything in the electorate changing - the system may implode and then maybe (maybe) people will wake up? In the meantime one simple thing is vote for anyone but the incumbent in every election (I am hallucinating about that)

@richmondforum One change you say? Uncap the House. Obvi.

@richmondforum Changing the committee and leadership structure in Senate and House so leaders cannot stifle debate and punish members for dissenting/discussing policy differences.

@abetterworld98 @richmondforum No party affiliation should be listed on ballots. Parties are private entities, and are not candidates. The government has no obligation to advertise for parties. If you don't know what candidate(s) you wish to vote for by name, WHY are you voting for them?

@richmondforum Ranked Choice Voting

@richmondforum If I have my date right, this is from a 2019 town hall where you said the same thing. This problem has been around quite a while.

@richmondforum As you are well aware, the work of Gehl & Porter, which prescribes, among other things, top-5 open primaries with ranked choice voting for the final five would go a long way towards healing our system.

@SmarterGameShow @richmondforum Get the money out of politics. By the time a candidate is elected they are indebted to their donors. We need a process where every candidate receives free and equal airtime. MONEY CORRUPTS

Build at least one party that is severely limited by a party constitution. This could be done many ways. The fastest is to run for president as an independent, win, use constitutional powers to limit governments, and use persuasive powers to get good party rules ratified. See links in reply.

@richmondforum

@richmondforum Open primaries.

The reason the Uni-party has power is they have monopolies on ballot access and campaign finance. The 2nd part is more important and more fixable. Solution: 1. Only registered voters can contribute to campaigns. This eliminates corporate, PAC, SuperPac, and other special interests. 2. Campaign contributions shouldn't be allowed to cross state/county lines. That's foreign interference. We'll be pushing for these solutions publicly in the near future. The vast majority of all voters agree that getting money out of politics is important.

@richmondforum Term limits. 12 years in Congress, which largely eliminates the Senate consisting of termed out House members. Senators would more likely come from state executive office holders. An ex-lieutenant governor would approach the Senate different than a career Washingtonian.

@richmondforum Eliminate political parties and allow people to run on their own merit.

@richmondforum The Anti-Federalists were right, obviously.

@richmondforum Ranked choice voting.

@mead3kl @richmondforum Abolish legalized bribery aka. political contributions to politicians.

@richmondforum I feel like a big step would be banning the display of party affiliation at the polls... maybe view it as a kind of publicly funded advertisement to parties to get people on board with the idea

@richmondforum Funny how much choice has been eliminated

@richmondforum Specifically Article 1 section 1. Article 1 Section 2, unconstitutionally instituted Direct Taxes. Article 1 Section 2 where we have one Rep for every 30,000 people. Also keep Congress within the bounds of specifically enumerated duties mostly in Section 8. I could go on and on

@richmondforum 1. Term limits 2. Campaign Finance reform (no more PAC and special interest funding). If the wealthy can afford to donate to political parties, then just add a ‘free and fair election tax’ to the ultra wealthy and equally pass these tax revenues through to both parties.

@richmondforum Campaign finance reforms. Party rates Congress members on fundraising. Super PACs are "raising billions" to promote candidates with an expectation of return on investment. If every politician had an equal limit on Campaign finance, a LOT would change in Washington DC.

@richmondforum Approval voting now!

@richmondforum @Grok, the majority of commenters here have no idea where the US two-party system comes from. Please explain the mechanism to them, and the systemic changes required to enable multiple viable parties.

@richmondforum Stop allowing political careers. One term in any office is all that is allowed.