nobody with extreme views should win (and i do not think mamdanis views are extreme - they’re what people want!) anyone who wins an election to represent people should represent the views of the people, and that absolutely means being moderate: not in the toxic way that it’s come to mean in the US, but truly government should, as one of its primary missions, be a moderated representation of the constituents it serves: it should never (as much as possible) represent only a single group
How do you tell the difference between the kind of ‘moderate’ that you want, and the ‘toxic’ kind we have in the US? I don’t want to “split the difference” within a population that skews fascist. If opposing a genocide is extreme (it apparently is, in the US), then call me extreme.
i don’t think that’s a problem with the electoral system… the government should represent the average views and interests of a population… that’s the only thing that an electoral system should seek to address
extreme views only pit people against each other and cause fighting
what those views are is a whole other question to do with education and shared values… i think those things are improved with less polarised politics, because polarisation leads to both sides (or worse, 1 side) acting not in the interests of people, but in the interests of cementing their extreme: the more you hate “the other team” the more you feel compelled to cheat to “protect” yourself
this is not a short term fix… this is a multi-generational fix, as was the apathy and division that caused it
nobody with extreme views should win (and i do not think mamdanis views are extreme - they’re what people want!) anyone who wins an election to represent people should represent the views of the people, and that absolutely means being moderate: not in the toxic way that it’s come to mean in the US, but truly government should, as one of its primary missions, be a moderated representation of the constituents it serves: it should never (as much as possible) represent only a single group
How do you tell the difference between the kind of ‘moderate’ that you want, and the ‘toxic’ kind we have in the US? I don’t want to “split the difference” within a population that skews fascist. If opposing a genocide is extreme (it apparently is, in the US), then call me extreme.
i don’t think that’s a problem with the electoral system… the government should represent the average views and interests of a population… that’s the only thing that an electoral system should seek to address
extreme views only pit people against each other and cause fighting
what those views are is a whole other question to do with education and shared values… i think those things are improved with less polarised politics, because polarisation leads to both sides (or worse, 1 side) acting not in the interests of people, but in the interests of cementing their extreme: the more you hate “the other team” the more you feel compelled to cheat to “protect” yourself
this is not a short term fix… this is a multi-generational fix, as was the apathy and division that caused it