presidential election revealed a polarized country, divided between regions (North-Northeast versus Center-South) and income groups (rich versus poor). Protests from every side were organized by and spread through social networks, spilling into the streets during the campaign and immediately after the election. This led some eager observers to argue that Dilma would rule a country split in two,” (Bastos, 148). Since the 2008 housing market crash, income inequality, the 99% versus 1% argument such as the Occupy Wall Street movement, have caused rifts in the United States trust in governmental regulations. Moreover, congressional gridlock between Democrats and Republicans has only increased the social tension void. Now, the country has been faced with countless protests denouncing Donald J. Trump’s presidential legitimacy, especially through the Twitter #NotMyPresident movement. As reported by Christopher Mele and Annie Correal of The New York Times on November 9, 2016, “thousands of people across the country marched, shut down highways, burned effigies and shouted angry slogans…to protest the election of Donald J. Trump as president,” while more demonstrations resonated in town squares and college campuses around the nation. Even more strikingly, Fabrício Bastos proclaims that in Brazil the “urban middle-class youth (most of them around 25 to 34 years old),” (Bastos, 153) is disenchanted with the current government and will continue to be the source of political protest in the coming years, similar to what is being demonstrated by U.S. middle-class youth. As the United States continues to wait in solemn observation of presidential cabinet nominees, and the first policies to be announced under the Trump administration, we may well see presidential impeachment ourselves.

With these events in mind, it is time to consider the short-term consequences of transitioning from a winner-take-all system to a proportional representation system in the United States of America. To begin, it would create a more diverse Congress with smaller parties such as the Tea Party and the Green Party earning a seat at the congressional table. While they may finally be in prominent public office, the chances that they would hold any real power are slim to none as the Democrats and Republicans would continue to remain dominant. Also, politicians would have more incentives to campaign across their whole state, instead of simply campaigning in their lone districts as the state vote would determine proportional seating. On a positive note, Niel Franzese of the Connecticut Law Review points out “such a situation might motivate voters to participate in primaries that they had not in the past in hopes of taking advantage of a renewed chance to ha