Things that we all agree on.

[SamuelRSmith]

gergroy said:

sethnintendo said:

gergroy said:
I think that the majority of us would agree that the two party system sucks, we need viable third parties.

I also think the majority of us would agree that the electoral college system is crap and needs to be changed to popular vote.

something that I am not sure we all agree on, but I think we might is that all these senators and house reps need to have term limits.

After dissing most of the ideas in my previous comment I was surprised to see 3 in a row ideas that are easily agreed upon.  I doubt very few people enjoy the current political system in the USA. 

you would think so, but evidently some people don't agree.  From my perspective, coming from a state that has an incredible bias towards one political party, it seems that the system is set up to supress and discourage voters.  I think people that live in the battleground states are probably a lot happier with the system than those that aren't.  

I'd agree with points 1 & 3, but not point 2.

Although, with point 3, I support term limits in the House, and returning the Senate back to the states.

Point 2, that was done on purpose. Originally, the Federal Government was supposed to have very little effect in the daily lives of the US citizens... unfortunately, after reconstruction, and the progressive era, all that changed. As such, the House was directly elected, the Senate was appointed by the States, and the President was indirectly elected (a mix between the two).

The idea was that the House would continously fight for Federal power, while the Senate would fight for State power, and the President acted as an arbiter between the two (as this was where all their political incentives were laid out). These fights were supposed to keep the Federal Government to within the confines of the Constitution.

Obviously, once the States were removed from the process, and Senators were directly elected, the whole system broke, and the incentives were all geared towards Federal power. Directly electing the President would be the last nail in the coffin for the Republic, and the country would essentially become a straight democracy.