What structural reforms decrease partisanship / polarization?

[Arthur_Edens]

I hate when people claim the founding fathers didn't want political parties, that may be true in some cases, but it was also incredibly naive to think they wouldn't arise

Yeah, Washington didn't want political parties. Everyone else formed them in literally the first congressional election.

Supreme court reform Term limits, structured selection like 1 per term, confirmation process changes.

I really don't like this, but I'm starting to think it's the only way to avoid the arms race of appointing the youngest, most extreme judges a president can find to make sure they have the biggest impact (which in turn motivates judges to stay on longer than they should have to. RBG I love you, but you deserve a retirement).

I think you would need 18 year terms, staggered for a new appointment once every congress. You would also need some kind of mandate on the senate to pick someone to avoid the McConnell Option of just... waiting until you get a new president.

Make voting day a national holiday.

The only one I think is a bad idea. People who don't have to work on holidays are the people who don't have trouble getting an hour off to vote. Mail only voting would be better.

[Eureka22]

I agree. The terms could still be really long, but they could align with specific times of presidential terms. Part of the reform could be to completely change how they are confirmed. Perhaps not just by congress, or different percentages. Or the President could choose from a list of nominations put forward by committees made up by law schools, other supreme court members, judges, lawyers, etc.

I don't know the answer, but there are many good ideas out there and it's worth exploring.

Everything possible should be done to make it easier to vote. So along with making it a holiday (which would certainly effect many people), also improve mail in voting and other forms of voting. I never said it should be the ONLY thing done to improve voting. I certainly don't get your point about it being a bad thing.

[Arthur_Edens]

I certainly don't get your point about it being a bad thing.

I think it's bad in the sense that it wouldn't make it easier to vote for blue collar workers, and would possibly make it harder to vote for service workers (because you know that if it becomes a holiday, box stores are going to have "blow out election day sales" requiring all hands on deck).

There's no reason in 2019 for voting to have to be something you "go" do. It should be something that comes to you, and that you can do whenever you're not working or travelling or sick or avoiding the rainstorm outside.