Even when all is true, Jefferson was the only person proposing proportional voting among the Founding Fathers. It is the true form of democracy and we still lack that in the US today. Jefferson is therefore a hero in our larger world history. We have to wait more than a century before Victor D'Hondt proposes a similar system that was first implemented in Belgium 120+ years ago.
The Jefferson method is the oldest method in the world to accurately subscribe to the word democracy: a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. What we have today actually does not fit the definition of democracy because of the three voting groups, the people going home empty-handed is the largest in the United States. Many voters end up not being represented here.
And the Winner Is the Losing Party:
https://medium.com/the-national-discussion/and-the-winner-is-the-losing-party-c683c1d739e5
Had Jefferson succeeded, we would have been better off today. More sane, politically emancipated.
Would it have last? Perhaps. There is even the chance the Civil War would have been avoided. At the same time, neophytes may have caused it to fail by voting for extremist parties only. Plus, nations with proportional voting and an empowered president through voting as well are definitively not always better off. In a real democracy, the head of a nation comes forth from the elected body; the head is itself not elected, which would then be a separate part next to the body. A prime-minister is more like the manager that ensures others do their work the best way possible. A president can be the bully for no good reason at all because the voters voted for him in a separate election. Schitzophrenic.
The US Constitution is very interesting in light of proportional voting.
It does not prevent the system being put in place for city, county and state. Plus, with the 14th Amendment in hand, governments must put the better system in place if a better system is available. Particularly cities and counties have nothing else in the US Constitution to fall back on, and as such they are already required to have proportional voting in place today. There is simply no better system than proportional voting, and the local level is actually a safe place to learn the ins and outs of the real version of democracy. It fully empowers the voters, and it ensures that parties are engaged with one another in a lively discussion (group-think is avoided this way). Special interests still exists, but they are on the inside of the political game, represented by specific parties, and not on the outside, buying their way in.
Jefferson may have not been perfect, but he was ahead of his time. Far ahead.
