I am not sure about other countries, but I think in US, the low-hanging fruit is to require all [non-emergency] legislation to be published in its final form well before the vote (say, a week or two). Currently we have way too much stuff being “snuck in” at the last moment, and for important legislation there is not enough time for the public to influence the text (while lobbyists are successful sneaking things in at the last moment).
I like your idea too—perhaps having a 1 month “cool off” period before votes become public would be enough to reduce the power of parties a bit.
But at least in US the first-past-the-post system is what keeps the two parties in power the most—introducing any sort of run-off system would probably be the lowest hanging fruit for that problem.
P.S. For my prepublication proposal—emergency legislation would need to still be allowed, but something like requiring a high (e.g. 2⁄3) votes threshold and automatic 6 months sunset on emergency legislation would prevent most abuse.
I am not sure about other countries, but I think in US, the low-hanging fruit is to require all [non-emergency] legislation to be published in its final form well before the vote (say, a week or two). Currently we have way too much stuff being “snuck in” at the last moment, and for important legislation there is not enough time for the public to influence the text (while lobbyists are successful sneaking things in at the last moment).
I like your idea too—perhaps having a 1 month “cool off” period before votes become public would be enough to reduce the power of parties a bit.
But at least in US the first-past-the-post system is what keeps the two parties in power the most—introducing any sort of run-off system would probably be the lowest hanging fruit for that problem.
P.S. For my prepublication proposal—emergency legislation would need to still be allowed, but something like requiring a high (e.g. 2⁄3) votes threshold and automatic 6 months sunset on emergency legislation would prevent most abuse.