Representation
* “America’s Vanishing Majority” (June 30) implies that majority support for one party or the other is the norm. However, I doubt that any electorate in any country or under any system would support merely two parties, given the choice.
When people have a meaningful choice, as in a proportional representation system, they vote for lots of different parties. If I were French, for example, I could vote for the Conservatives, the Communists, the Socialists, the National Front Party, or for any one of a myriad of smaller parties, and have my vote count. Yes, my party of choice would actually win seats and represent me in Congress.
As it stands now, to have even marginal representation outside the two main parties, I am dependent on eccentric millionaires becoming activist politicians. At this very moment, the country of New Zealand is voting to change its majoritarian political system to a proportional representation one. It is something that we ought to be seriously considering in this country, too.
ROBERT C. BLOOM
Los Alamitos
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