Combative Congress front cover

Gallup 2023

Number of Parties by Country

Cattle Chute or Closed Party Primaries

Liberty

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, May 20, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Combative Congress, Your Power! Your Voice! Amazon https://a.co/d/6SRqb6Q has been published by Solve American Gridlock LLC https://www.solveamericangridlock.com/. The purpose of the book is to provide a better understanding of the effects electoral systems have on Congress’s ability to solve problems.

For instance, it analyzes how and why most primary elections are limited to one party. This partisan primary system almost always sends only two candidates to the general election where one or the other gets elected to Congress.

The book points out that having open and bipartisan primaries would permit several candidates for a seat from more than two parties to be sent to the general election, opening the door to fair competition among a greater variety of viewpoints and political philosophies. It then suggests that the general election use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), a system that requires the winner to have a majority and produces results more proportional to those who voted.

This book analyzes why Congress has only two parties and proposes additional changes in our electoral systems that will open competition to additional parties and a much more civil and productive Congress. Other important countries have an average of 3.9 parties.

Combative Congress addresses a serious and complex topic in ways that make reading it pleasant. This nonpartisan book is unique in that its appeal stretches from a high school student to a professor, from a young woman to a retired chemical engineer, and more. It was written to be concise and readable in less than three hours with some humor; it has 33 color graphs and photographs to implant images of concepts in the reader’s mind; and it has short chapters and good references.

National constitutions have lasted an average of only 17 years since 1789. America’s Constitution has lasted over 230 years! The book points out the need for continued vigilance.

In 2014, about 94% (https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congress_elections,_2014) of incumbent congressional candidates were returned to office, but the approval rate for Congress was around 15% (https://news.gallup.com/poll/180113/2014-approval-congress-remains-near-time-low.aspx). How in the world can that be? The answer is that we have broken electoral systems.

Solve American Gridlock LLC’s primary focus is educating citizens about improvements that can be made in the methods used to elect members of Congress.

Tom Mast is the founder of Solve American Gridlock and lives in Austin, Texas. He is a retired engineer with degrees from The University of Texas, Stanford, and the Harvard Business School. He served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, spent his career in manufacturing and engineering management, and has long been interested in our country’s polarization, the duopoly in our Congress and its causes, and what improvements we must encourage.

Thomas Rush Mast
Author
combativecongress@masts.us