American presidential elections are plagued by four main issues:
- The first year or two of a president’s first term are spent
building political power. And then right about the time that
things are hitting their stride, the president has to start
campaigning for reëlection, which kills that policy momentum. -
The Electoral College means that candidates can virtually ignore
all but eight or nine states and still win the election. It is
absurd that major population hubs like Chicago and New York and
Los Angeles are ignored because the states they reside in are
thought to be “locks” for one party or the other. Instead,
candidates spend their time wooing New Hampshire citizens and a
small group of Iowan corn farmers. The concept of a “swing
state” creates bizarre campaign strategies that ignore huge
swaths of American voters. - The two-party lock forces
candidates into one of two predefined buckets. And if there is
essentially no difference between the parties (as there is on
drug policy, foreign policy, and a b