The US constitution needs an update

Some examples (I'm Norwegian):

- In the Presidential election, simply the candidate with the most votes should win.

- Some time ago, Democrats feared for their majority in the Senate, because one of their Senators was ill.

- The Republicans could stop the Senate voting for a withdrawal from Iraq in April 2008 using filibuster tactics.

- "Corruption": You give my state, say, a military base, I support your bill on whatever.

And then there's the hideous political TV commercials. They're forbidden in Norway, UK, and other countries.

Does Norway have proportional representation?

In Norway, the Parliament has approximately proportional representation. In the US, voting for a small party is stupid (e.g. Florida 2000), in Norway the Parliament usually has seven parties.

The US two-party system has a complicated history. There was a time when there were more than two viable parties. But it's long ago.

In the US Presidential election, you need approximately 50 % of the votes to win. To get your party represented in the Norwegian Parliament, you need (simply said) 4 % of the votes. So in Norway, small parties have a role. In the US, they just help the enemy.

congressional structure and a classic parliamentary legislative branch. Perhaps the Founders experimented a little too much when they defined how our Congress works...?

The US constitution was, I believe, the first attempt to create a democracy. The US deserves admiration for that. But first attempts are seldom the best, they need to be updated.

We started with the Federalists and the Republicans. The Federalists collapsed.

The Republicans split into the Democrats and the National Republicans, who then changed their name to the Whigs.

The Whigs collapsed over the slavery issue, with Northern Whigs and abolitionist Democrats creating the Republican Party.

No other major third party since then (such as the Greenback, Prohibition, Populist, Socialist, Bull Moose, LaFollette Progressive, Dixiecrat, Wallace Progressive, American Independent, Lunatarian, Reform, or Green) has ever managed to win a Congressional majority (or even to come in second and be the major opposition), and only one third party candidate (Roosevelt) ever came in second, and he still lost in a landslide.

We have never had three viable parties at one time.