this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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One thing alone would help shift the Overton Window MASSIVELY in a country like the USA - mandatory voting. If everyone who had the right to vote actually voted, Republicans would never hold federal government ever again and would only be able to hold onto a couple of states and a few dozen local governments across the nation.
Without mandatory voting, Republicans can become more and more egregious in seeking to rally voters while simultaneously painting the whole establishment as broken which essentially disenfranchises the non-voting centre. With it, they’d have to seriously moderate their platforms to have any hope of forming government ever again. It would likely cause a party split that would then coalesce again into a two-party coalition on the right, starting the efforts to break down the two-party system.
If you introduce ranked choice voting as well, that’ll speed up the dismantling of the two-party system, but just mandatory voting alone would prevent Trump and his ilk from ever being in power again.
The problem with "solutions" like this (and I actually don't even think this would fix things vs any number of other solutions in a similar vein), is that these aren't solutions. These are vague wishlist goals, and very much so have all the hard parts of getting there removed.
Like I think every country having proportional representation would improve the quality of their politicians and government massively, but good luck getting the establishment politicians who benefit from the old system to give that up.
Im always super shocked at why anyone likes ranked choice voting. It doesnt actually solve the 2 party system at all.
Proportional voting is what solves that. Ranked choice just means that 2 party system has a slightly higher chance of changing who the 2 parties are.
This is the part that always gets me laughing. At the level of effort that would be necessary to actually get voting reform, we might as well just overthrow the government. That is how difficult it would be, it would require a nationwide coordinated mass movement hitherto unseen in the United States, and it would only really solve one of our problems.
I think it would actually solve a huge swath of problems, but absolutely yes its ridiculous to state as a solution just as we both agree.
As for the overthrowing the government part, I think that given they're both at the same levels of difficulty, Id probably opt for the one that also accomplishes the practical goals and doesnt end up in half of us being bloody pulp on the ground.
it really doesn't. It would start the process of fixing the problems, but you then still need to take money out of politics, curb the right-wing misinformation machine, introduce and pass widespread economic, education, and equality reform, all the while billionaires will continue to do everything in their power to bribe the multitude of parties to halt progress.
If they're both the same level of difficulty, I'd rather fix all the problems at once, rather than take step one of a hundred.
Neither fixes all the problems at once. People keep holding onto the ideas of some hail mary that wins the "game" and it aint coming.
Proportional representation would break 2 party and be one of many steps. People would be able to vote for one of many parties and no0 longer would throwing away your vote with a third party be a thing.
Many steps is the only way to eventually fix things. Your basically faced with a highly liable to fail, bloody fictional solution you wont do, and the long, diet and exercise you swear wont work.