Would a system that allowed them to send their own representatives to congress be more fair?

Question

When several million want a given person or party in power, but can never elect them because only Democrats and Republicans will be elected by the other 90 million voters, can they believe that this is a representative government? Would a system that allowed them to send their own representatives to congress be more fair? Is there a way to devise a system which allows any million voters that agree on a candidate to have representation? (There are a couple million libertarians, for example, who never get represented.)

Answer 1

There is such a system, but it would require a constitutional amendment. The system is called proportional representation and a variation of it is used in several countries including Germany, Israel, and (for regional elections) the United Kingdom.

In this system, you vote for political party rather than for individual candidates. Based on the percentage of votes that each party received, they would get that percentage of the Representative.

To determine which Representatives were elected, each party would submit a list (the actual length being up to the party) prior to the election. If a party won 200 seats, the 200 names at the top of the list would be elected. If they won 100 seats, only the 100 names at the top of the list would be elected.

Using typical numbers from recent elections, the Democrats would get approximately 215 Representatives, the Republicans would get approximately 205 Representatives, and the Libertarians and Greens would get approximately 5 each. However, this assumption is based on their being no minimum percentage required. Some countries do require a certain percentage (normally between 1 and 5%) to avoid splintering representation too much to permit anyone from forming a majority and governing.

Given how long representation has been district-based and state-based in this country, I doubt that such an amendment could pass. In addition, it would go against the dominant mental state of many voters that they vote for people not parties.

Answer 2

The House of Representatives are elected by districts, and the number of voters in those districts are easier to reach than if one were entering a race for the U S Senate or the Presidency or even as Governor.

Other than the 2 Party System, the other parties should start running for more localized offices, and this is one way to garner enough of those in the masses to see what their party is about, after taking one of those seats.

Answer 3

There are countries that use this method, however often there is a great deal of dissension among the politicians, and their process "bogs down " in the less than a majority vote agenda. Most of these political entities were began with good intentions, BUT, politics and Politicians being what they are, MOST OF THEM have yet to become a strong nation.
There are many in Africa, and some in Central and South America.
toro gringo

Answer 4

If they really want to get their representative elected then they could all agree to move to Idaho or someplace similar and then get who they wanted elected. If they are not motivated enough to get 'er done then they do not deserve the spot! IE MORMONS IN UTAH.