Desperate Measures

I read recently a proposal that every voter should get two votes, one in his own state and one to vote against someone in any other state of his choosing. The immediate problem with this is that an organised campaign in a populous state could pick off five or six senators at a time from less-populous states. Big problem.

The two-vote idea does open up another possibility, though. Members of each party would get to cast a second vote against the elected official of their own party in the country. Some unobjectionable Democrat, such as a Bill Bradley or a Bob Kerrey, would be put forward as the automatic replacement for whichever Democrat the other Democrats wanted to get rid of.

I worry that such a thing might give too much power to party extremists - the Democrats would likely have banded together to take out Lieberman last time. However, the opportunity to have a say in kicking Trent Lott out of the halls of power has great appeal for me. Sure, a lot of Republicans would think at first that they wanted to go after McCain. But given a moment to think about it, with Trent Lott and Ted Stevens up there as choices for the remainder bin, I think folks would get the idea that this could be used to do the country a favor.

Granted, it probably won't work, as there are likely unintended consequences once people learn how to manipulate the system. But the idea of getting to slap Senator Earmark from Alaska is a sweet fantasy.