Kepler
Si certus es dubita
Re: Campaign 2016 - Snow White and the 7 dwarfs.
Mine is even simpler: 4 parties each representing one quadrant in the social x econ quad chart:
Socialist: left social, left economic
Populist: right social, left economic
Libertarian: left social, right economic
Conservative: right social, right economic
IRV for all elections.
There would likely never be a majority government, leaving the parties to work out coalitions (SC and PL don't make sense, but the other 4 combinations SP, SL, PC, LC do). Coalition-building prevents parties from becoming (or at least governing) too extreme. And multi-party is far more difficult for elites to capture.
In my fantasy land of a country rid of the Republican Party, libertarianism/collectivism doesn't need to share an axis with conservative/liberal. For example, the most obvious argument for conserving... OK, that's fiscal policy, but the second most obvious argument is in conserving natural resources. Collective conservatism butts heads with the libertarian ideals of strip mining and unlimited grazing rights. Also on the federal budget, for that matter.
Also, there are liberal ideals like gay marriage and of course pot smoking that are inherently libertarian.
Mine is even simpler: 4 parties each representing one quadrant in the social x econ quad chart:
Socialist: left social, left economic
Populist: right social, left economic
Libertarian: left social, right economic
Conservative: right social, right economic
IRV for all elections.
There would likely never be a majority government, leaving the parties to work out coalitions (SC and PL don't make sense, but the other 4 combinations SP, SL, PC, LC do). Coalition-building prevents parties from becoming (or at least governing) too extreme. And multi-party is far more difficult for elites to capture.