(One last note: yes, I have considered whether the anecdote I give is a result of the culture or the more diverse ethnic makeup of the US compared to Denmark, and I am unconvinced by that hypothesis. Those effects, while real, are nearly trivial compared to the effects from the voting system. I have written too much here already, so I will not comment further on why this is the case)
I was thinking that ‘size dynamics’ seem like ‘a more obvious reason for delay’ than ‘diverse ethnic makeup’. Not ‘this dynamic makes a lot of sense’ but ‘this other dynamic would make more sense’.
Gotcha. My main explanation is just that the American political framework is old, having been around since the start of the modern democracy movement, and voting theory wasn’t a thing people thought about back then; that, plus the particular historical reasons many countries adopted proportional representation didn’t play out to the same degree in the US.
I was thinking that ‘size dynamics’ seem like ‘a more obvious reason for delay’ than ‘diverse ethnic makeup’. Not ‘this dynamic makes a lot of sense’ but ‘this other dynamic would make more sense’.
Gotcha. My main explanation is just that the American political framework is old, having been around since the start of the modern democracy movement, and voting theory wasn’t a thing people thought about back then; that, plus the particular historical reasons many countries adopted proportional representation didn’t play out to the same degree in the US.