The way we vote constitutes an illegal taking by the powers that be.
When a room has a single door, then that is the only way in. Another room, with two doors, will have two ways to get inside. The more doors to a room, the greater the number of ways to gain access to that space, and the easier it is to get inside.
The most important rooms in the United States show us just two doors through which just two kinds of political representatives can enter. Furthermore, the room the individual voters have access to holds itself just one person. Voters do not pick all representatives; we are divided into districts and then get to pick just one representative.
- To fill the space of the single district representative, a threshold is in place that is of such a tall order that it requires a lot of support before one can enter.
The more complicated it is for a candidate to get inside a room, the greater the limitations placed on us voters to receive our desired representation.
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Everyone knows that the two-party system we have in the United States limits us to just these two parties.
Meanwhile, the representatives who did win are gathered in a much larger room of representation. So keep in mind that all of our representatives will have been picked as a single representative, and in effect the voters were restricted in expressing themselves by the district system.
That larger room where all representatives are gathered may appear to have a window, too, next to the two doors for the two parties. Through the window the light of freedom will shine with some districts voting for a third-party candidate as their single representative. Yet practice tells us that this window is small and perhaps will let a bird in, but not any substantial level of representation. In general, third-party votes belong to losing voters, not represented with their choice.
- Sad as this may seem, it does not help if you stayed home and turned your back to the voting system. The one person who entered the single room, for whom you were granted a say with your vote, will end up making important decisions that will influence your life. Walking away is not the solution to not-being represented well.
More and more folks are complaining about the setup; people feel trapped inside the two-party system with the limited choices. Staying home is not the solution. Yet the real secret has then not been told still.
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Flip a coin and the outcome will be heads or tails. Not only shall we accept the outcome for what it is, but we also accepted beforehand that the coin was the appropriate deciding mechanism.
We walked into the voting booth, and with that act we accepted the setup. We declared the setup the normal state of affairs. For all we know, it is the normal state of affairs indeed.
Consider, next, replacing the coin with a die we can roll, and instead of two possible outcomes, there are then six possible outcomes. The voting booth is still the voting booth, but the outcome is more refined.
- Let a coin decide which twenty people enter a room. The outcome will be something like 8 heads and 12 tails, for instance.
- Let a rolling die decide which twenty people can enter a room. The outcome will be more like 6 ones, 4 fives, 3 fours, 3 twos, 2 sixes, and 2 threes.
Through using the coin as deciding mechanism, the voters are limited to two manners of expression. Black or white, heads or tails, that one or that one.
With using the die, the voters have more ways to gain access to the rooms in manners they want to be represented. Black, white, green, orange, red, blue. Heads, tails, arms, legs, and torsos (front or back). That one to the left, that one to the right, that one to the heavens, that one about money, that one about transportation, and that one because I like beautiful people.
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The secret lies deeper still. When there are 100 representatives for whom we all voted, then the appearance is that we have a wonderful mix in them indeed. Yet the lie is that many people got cut off from being represented in their fair numbers. They are represented by far fewer officials when voting with the coin than had we rolled the die. With flipping the coin, the representatives will be more middle-of-the-road candidates who won the two-person race than the cobalt blue or pink flamingo candidate you had really wanted.
- The middle is overrepresented, with a strong nudge toward the elite, the wealthy and the well-connected. The bottom of society is not much represented. Heads and tails will serve the majority of voters and may fail to serve all others.
Meanwhile, this truth of underrepresentation is covered up by smaller truths. Take note, because this is the confusing aspect.
To lift the vail, it does not help to look at gender, at wealth, or at race to see how the outcomes show a true slant in outcome. There are ways to apply a positive spin to the information, declaring, for instance, how one or two minority groups appear to be receiving more representation than before. This reads then that “all things are going well.”
- The truth is pervasive underrepresentation. With one group improving, other groups are still not improving their standing at all. The focus should be on all voters being represented and how underrepresentation is baked into the current voting system.
The secret is that the coin does not let anyone in who is not heads or tails. The voting system restricts us and this restriction is the real issue.
With discussing race, wealth, or gender in politics, we are not pointing at the actual mechanism of always dividing ourselves into winners and losers first. Instead, folks end up looking among the results and then see some of what is liked. That is the confusing part; the results show us underrepresentation, but also not a total absence of representation.
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Is there a way out?
There is no surprise that once a voter walks into the voting booth in which we can flip the coin, then the two head&tail parties won already. Participate and we then accepted the limited setup of representation.
The way out is the US Constitution that declares we have a privilege of representation at State and local level. In reality, we are not given that privilege.
- The Federal elections are declared in specifics in the US Constitution, so they are what they are. Federal elections are not a guaranteed privilege. That legal fact needs to be accepted.
- The states, however, are not allowed to abridge the privileges of the citizens of the United States inside their individual states. But… they do. So, that is where the change should be fairly easy. The states are involved in an illegal taking.
The privilege of receiving fair representation at state (and local) elections is guaranteed in the Amendments to the US Constitution, and yet the two parties made sure that you did not get to roll a die in state or local elections. The states are forcing you to use a coin in the voting booth, and that is a very severe taking.
Up to 49.9 percent of the voters can end up receiving nothing they desired.
Our guaranteed privilege to representation is undermined by the two parties. They force voters to compete with voters for the win, and underrepresentation is then a certain outcome, benefiting the middle of society with a strong nudge toward the elite, the wealthy and the well-connected. Roll the die, and the percentage of voters represented by their own choice improves tremendously, in some cases nearing 100 percent.
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Review the legal cases in which voting is the issue, and most are about specific issues. They hardly ever involve the voting systems themselves.
It is therefore heartening to see that states were told to align themselves with the US Constitution, for instance, with interracial marriages. Clearly, the states were overstepping themselves. They tried to undermine the privileges that US citizens have, and they could not get away with it.
This interracial marriage case shows that the majority of voters cannot undermine the rights of US citizens at will. There is a basic standard, located in the Amendments of the US Constitution, and that basic standard must be applied to our voting booths as well. Voters have greater (state) rights than what the states tell them they have.
- To be complete, voters do not have that same right for the Federal level.
We are all aware that the Framers were not setting up the US Constitution to support just two parties. The powers that be restricted voter expression at state and local levels so they ended up keeping more power for themselves.
The secret is therefore that the two parties are overstepping their power, giving you fewer political freedoms than what you are entitled to, and they do so via state and local elections.
- When voting with a die at the state and local levels, then the window at the Federal level will open up wider nevertheless. More than just one bird can then come flying in and represent us better than today.
Three, four, or five parties will occupy Congress when voting at the state and local levels does follow the US Constitution. As soon as we are voting with rolling a die instead of flipping a coin, the political diversity will trickle up to the Federal level.
The Framers were very smart. They made sure the Amendments guarantee us that individual states, and then in particular the powers that be, should not undermine US citizens their privileges.
The United States is a solid two-party nation because the individual states forced you to vote with a coin at all our elections, despite the warning in the US Constitution that:
- No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.
