经济学人:美国民主的固有偏向(1)

 Voting reform 投票改革

American democracy's built-in bias¹ 美国民主的固有偏向

Its elections no longer convert the popular will into control of government 美国选举不再将民意转化为政府控制力

Every system for converting votes into power has its flaws. 每个将选票转化为权力的体系都有其缺陷。

Britain suffers from an over-mighty executive; 英国因强权领袖而深受其害；

Italy from chronically² weak government; 意大利苦于长期软弱无能的政府；

Israel from small, domineering factions³. 以色列则因小而霸道的派系而遭受困局。

America, however, is plagued by the only democratic vice⁴ more troubling than the tyranny of the majority: tyranny of the minority. 然而，美国却囿于比多数人暴政更令人不安的民主弊端，即少数人暴政。

This has come about because of a growing division between rural and urban voters. 之所以发生这样的情况，是因为农村和城市选民间的分歧越来越大。

The electoral system the Founders⁵ devised, and which their successors elaborated, 开国元勋们所设计、继任者发扬的选举制度，

gives rural voters more clout⁶ than urban ones. 使得农村选民的影响力更甚于城市选民。

When the parties stood for both city and country that bias affected⁷ them both. 由于两党都是即代表城市又代表农村，所以此偏向会对两党都产生影响。

But the Republican Party has become disproportionately rural and the Democratic Party disproportionately urban. 但共和党不匀称地偏向农村，民主党不匀称地偏向城市。

That means a red vote is worth more than a blue one. 这就意味着代表共和党的红色选票价值高于代表民主党的蓝色选票。

The consequences are dramatic. 结果是戏剧性的。

Republicans hold both the houses of Congress and the White House. 共和党控制着国会两院和白宫。

But in the three elections in 2012-16 their candidates got just 46% of the two-party vote for the Senate, 但在2012年至2016年的三次选举中，共和党候选人仅获得参议院两党选票的46%。

and they won the presidential vote in 2016 with 49%. 并在2016年以49%的比例赢得总统大选。

Our voting model predicts that, for Democrats⁸ to have a better than 50% chance of winning control of the House in November’s mid-term elections, 投票模型预测，民主党若想要11月中期选举赢得众议院控制权的可能性超过50%，

they will need to win the popular vote by around seven percentage points. 就需要7个点的优势赢得普选。

To put that another way, we think the Republicans have a 0.01% chance of winning the popular vote for the House. 换句话说，我们认为共和党有0.01%的机会赢得众议院普选。

But we estimate their chance of securing a majority of congressmen is about a third. 但我们估计，民主党赢得众议院普选的机会有三分之一。

In no other two-party system does the party that receives the most votes routinely find itself out of power. 在任何其他两党制体系中，经常获得多数票的政党都会获得权力。

 

1 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

2 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

3 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

6 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》