Reducing barriers to voting is a good idea, but what’s really needed is a shift to a multi-party system through proportional representation; many comparative studies suggest that such a shift would lead to an increase in voter turnout of between 9 and 12 percent.

The problems of U.S. politics are deeper than the results of a single presidential election. They reflect a binary party system that has divided the country into two irreconcilable teams.

Measurement of democracy varies according to the different fundamental conceptions of democracy. Minimalist democracy evaluations focus on free and fair elections, while maximalist democracy evaluates additional values, such as human rights, deliberation, economic outcomes or state capacity.

Governments can be broadly categorized into democratic and non-democratic systems. Within these, you'll find various forms like democracies (direct or representative), monarchies, oligarchies, and authoritarian/totalitarian regimes. These systems differ based on who holds power, how decisions are made, and the extent of citizen participation.