The Last First Past the Post

The only thing I really know about Nick Clegg, the 3rd party candidate in the UK, is that he is asking for the UK for change to proportional representation in order for him to agree to form a coalition with one of the two other parties. And I think that's great. Most Americans don't know that only a few countries still have first-past-the-post elections. Most countries in Europe and elsewhere have proportional representation. And if the UK switches, in this very public way, it would help educate many Americans about electoral reform. Sad that the 2000 election came and went and the only thing people remember is butterfly ballots and blaming Nader, when they could have seen that a real solution exists, an instant runoff voting system, where you rank your candidates 1,2,3.

PR is just better than FPPE. I won't explain all the intricacies other than providing this link to FairVote. Those guys have been working at this for years, and the Nick Clegg situation must be seen as a huge opportunity for education. Not that anything can really penetrate the Freedom Fries eating USA #1 minds of Amurkins. But who knows, maybe Simon Cowell will start making fun of Amurkins for being the only democracy without PR, and we'll eventually expand our electoral choices beyond McDonalds and Burger King.