In his recent book Forward, former
presidential and New York majoral candidate Andrew M. Yang puts forward two promising
and concrete ideas: (1) open primaries and (2) ranked-choice voting.
Yang argues that these two
mechanisms might correct the current process of polarization by creating
positive stimulus for candidates to respond to the 51-61 percent of the electorate
that has moderate, pragmatic views instead of those who espouse fringe Far
Right or Far Left, unrealistic and dogmatic positions.
Both mechanisms have been proven
in Alaska, allowing an anti-Trump Republican moderate such as Senator Lisa Murkowski
to resist and survive reelection.
Ranked-choice elections in New
York also kept in check the Far Left candidacies that brought before the extreme
and disastrous tenure of Bill de Blasio.
Food for thought.
I, for one, will read Yang’s book in the hope that moderation and common sense can find a way back to where they should be since they represent a steady majority of the American electorate.
