Oscar P

Why Can’t We Have More Parties? with Lee Drutman Podcast Episode · Smart Girl Dumb Questions · 07/18/2025 · 1h 15m

America is stuck in a two-party doom loop. Could Elon Musk’s “America Party” actually shake things up?
Senior Fellow, @leedrutman.bsky.social, talks with Smart Girl Dumb Questions host, Nayeema Raza, about the history, current dysfunction, and future of our party system. Listen here:

AI usage | Andrew Heiss Here’s how I use AI and LLMs in my work

This is a thoughtful post on AI use.

My guiding principle is I don't use AI for things I want to be better at (writing (thinking!), research, learning). But it can be very helpful for coding (which for me is a tool towards writing/thinking).

www.andrewheiss.com/ai/

Voting age to be lowered to 16 across UK by next general election 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in all elections as part of changes including easier voter registration and crackdown on foreign interference

The UK is implementing several electoral reforms:

- Replacing first past the post for mayoral elections with the supplementary vote (a sort of instant run-off). www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

- Lowering the voting age to 16.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

N.Y.C. Panel Withdraws Proposal to Switch to Open Primaries

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/n...

This reminds me of this recent paper that came out on how rare it is for democracies to come back after backsliding.

Though quite the sobering read, it is also an invitation to imagine and work towards better institutions to future-proof democracy.

www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

📢 Thrilled to share our new article introducing CampaignView—a comprehensive open-source dataset of congressional candidate campaign bios and policy platforms (2018–2022). Paper + data here: campaignview.org & doi.org/10.7910/DVN/... 🧵1/4

Only twenty-six states provide access to statewide direct democracy with varying levels of usability. Our new report analyzes where and how to expand citizen-led policymaking in remaining states. Read the full report here: www.newamerica.org/political-re... #DirectDemocracy #BallotInitiatives

Should New York Adopt “Top-Two” Elections? The process could work, provided that political parties retain control.

“If the city’s goal is for two candidates to emerge from this process with broad support, it would be wise to let the parties decide which candidates get to use their labels.”

My contribution to the NYC top-two debate.

www.city-journal.org/article/new-...

Why Electoral Reform is Key to the Abundance Agenda Proportional representation would provide stronger incentives to pursue the ambitious projects that the abundance agenda envisions.

A timely read for Charlottesville -- which just held it's first PRCV election + had its upzoning package overturned. Election reform and housing construction go hand-in-hand.

Why Electoral Reform is Key to the Abundance Agenda Proportional representation would provide stronger incentives to pursue the ambitious projects that the abundance agenda envisions.

I jump into the abundance discourse in this new post on why the US needs to upgrade its electoral system to proportional representation if it wants to build big and build fairly.

www.newamerica.org/political-re...

The Graying of American Campaign Dollars The average campaign dollar now comes from a 67-year-old donor—up from 61 just eight years ago. As political money concentrates among the elderly, younger candidates face mounting barriers to entry.

The avg. campaign dollar now comes from a 67-year-old donor—up from 61 in 2016. When political money talks with a 67-year-old voice, it's no surprise our policies look backward, not forward.

The good news: early donations to younger candidates can help break this cycle and reshape our future.

Instant run-off results from last week's election are out. Mamdani wins 56% of the votes in the third round, 12 points ahead of Cuomo.

I am once again begging pundits to recognize that we👏 don't 👏👏know👏 how non-voters would have voted, because we don't know what would have gotten them into the voting booth!

These are undecided voters by definition!

Whatever would turn them into voters would also influence their preferences!

Loving the love for Brad Lander. It’s updated me a bit on RCV. RCV could create more Brad Landers, more coalition builders. A counterweight to the extremely individualistic incentives of executive and single member district legislative elections

How I updated my views on ranked choice voting A personal journey and some thoughts on changing one’s mind

With lots of folks debating RCV in NYC, re-upping my thoughts on how I changed by views on RCV from pro to meh:
leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-i-upda...

Pro-tip: brew the hibiscus flowers with pineapple rinds.

You dreamed of empires

In the distance (also Trust by the same author)

Private Rites

Countries of Origin