Ranked-Choice Voting Could Help Prevent a Left-Wing Trump
To capture a political party, you should have to actually capture a political party
Which is a bigger threat to the U.S.: right-wing illiberalism (Trump et al.) or left-wing illiberalism (wokeness)? That’s like being asked “Which would be worse: pressing your face into a moose ass or hearing your dad use the word ‘climax’?” The answers are easy (Trump/Dad climax), but neither option is good.
This week, Michael Gerson became the umpteenth columnist to affirm that, yes, right-wing illiberalism is the bigger threat. Gerson points out that - unlike the bunch of ANTIFA dorks currently trying to burn down a LensCrafters in Portland (my example, not his) - Trumpism has captured a major political party. This is a crucial point. One of the reasons I fear the threat from the left less than the threat from the right is because I think sane people on the left will keep the nutjobs from taking over. But the right-wing nutjob takeover is past-tense, and Republicans are busy building infrastructure that could allow them to steal a close election (while being mostly uninterested in actual infrastructure). It seems impossible, but the worst thing Donald Trump ever does in his life might not have happened yet.
It’s worth remembering how Trump came to be the GOP’s almost-literal center of gravity (“almost-literal” because he is fat1). We can debate whether Trump’s capture of the GOP came out of nowhere or was somewhat foreseeable (Gerson leans towards the former explanation, I favor the latter), but even the “Trump exposed the rot” people agree that Trump winning the nomination wasn’t inevitable. In fact, we might have been spared Trump if the GOP had used a voting system that’s less susceptible to manipulation and better at capturing voters’ preferences.