Speaker 1: . Let's go next to Itti from one of my favorite cities in the world,
Copenhagen, Denmark. Etai, you are on the air. Speaker 3: Hi, David, it's good to speak to you.
Pleasure. All right, so I have a hypothesis about why American politics is the way it is,
OK, and basically it's this the American electoral system allows us to have basically Dewhirst allows
both parties to be basically unaccountable and still win, because if you look at it,
technically speaking, the rules are that you only have to perform better than everyone else,
sort of individually. We call it a single winner system. And that actually guarantees
that you have a two party system like you have in America where you have.
What is it, a party like the Republican Party that's just a cult now, and I think that if that
is really the main problem with American politics, Speaker 1: so let me see if I understand. So
basically what you're saying is no matter how bad Republicans are or get in terms of being radical,
in terms of being a cult, in terms of being unhinged in any particular election where they can
claim to be slightly less bad than Democrats, they have a shot at winning. And that's a real problem.
Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, yeah, in Denmark, we use something called
proportional representation where the amount of vote you get is proportional to how much people
support your opinion. And I'm thinking just it's it's kind of
miserable, that abysmal that we live in or you people in America have to live in a system where
they're not able to have a different option, because the way the American system works is you
only have to get a plurality. You don't have to get more than you like. If you get a really huge
number of votes or if you have a lot of support, your idea won't get into government. Like if you
look at the the percentage of people in Congress that support or oppose something like Medicare for
all. And then you compare policy in Denmark and you compare the how the government, the people
in government, the parliament, support or oppose the policy compared to the population as a whole.
It's there's a very strong correlation, but there isn't in America because the system just allows
the worst kind of people to win elections. Speaker 1: Yeah, this is just a feature of
the first past, the post plurality system that we have. You know, in some cases, you actually
do have to get a majority. So if no one gets 50 percent, there's a runoff. But OK, we can put that
aside for now. You can have a district where 45 percent of the population wants Medicare for all.
And forty five percent of the voters vote for the candidate that wants Medicare for
all. That candidate loses and the representation of that district,
which is forty five percent for Medicare for all, is only one elected official who does not support
Medicare for all. That's just a fundamental problem with the system that we have. It's a
there's no way around it. It's just the way it is. Speaker 3: But if we use the Danish system,
of course, I think they would the Republicans would never win another election
or maybe they would still have supporters, but they would never be in office again.
Speaker 1: Well, hold on a second, because with a system like that, you could also have Republicans
from some of the minority Republican districts that are only represented by a Democrat right
now. I mean, there's two sides to that. Speaker 3: Well, I guess, but at least we
wouldn't one product of the proportional system is that you actually have like a multi-party
system. We'd at least know where people stand, because I know that there are people who vote
Republican who are actually have populist opinions and would probably vote for a different
party if they had a better very choice to go to. Speaker 1: There would be Democrats also who might
vote Green Party or something else as well. But I think it's a very, very interesting proposal.
Listen, we keep reading about how great things are in Denmark, 75 plus percent vaccination,
or is anybody wearing masks anywhere at this point? Not at all. No masks and things are OK.
Speaker 3: Things are great. Speaker 1: Wow, wow, I really miss
it. It's really Kopenhagen is such a great city. The biking, the bike lanes, the food is fantastic.
It's just so great, you know? Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope to get back there soon, I appreciate the call.
Speaker 3: Thank you, David. Speaker 1: When I say there is Itti
from Copenhagen, Denmark, what a special city, what a special city, my friends,