VOTING: First past the pole vs. Proportional representation (Canada, parties, elections)

[dunks_galore]

I asked this in another thread, but I thought it deserves its own topic. Is the American "first past the pole" voting system preferable to the proportional representation system found in other countries?

For those who don't know what this is:

Plurality voting system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies. This voting method is also used in multi-member constituencies in what is referred to as an exhaustive counting system where one member is elected at a time and the process repeated until the number of vacancies is filled.
The most common system, used in Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is simple plurality, first past the post or winner-takes-all. In this voting system the single winner is the person with the most votes; there is no requirement that the winner gain an absolute majority of votes

Proportional representation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Proportional representation (PR), sometimes referred to as full representation, is a type of voting system aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections, and the percentage of seats they receive (e.g., in legislative assemblies).

The main disadvantage for me is that in our system, we are prone to having only a two party system:

Duverger's law is an idea in political science which says that constituencies that use first-past-the-post systems will become two-party systems, given enough time.

First-past-the-post tends to reduce the number of political parties to a greater extent than most other methods, thus making it more likely that a single party will hold a majority of legislative seats. (In the United Kingdom, 18 out of 22 General Elections since 1922 have produced a single party majority government.)

FPTP's tendency toward fewer parties and more frequent one-party rule can also produce a government that may not consider as wide a range of perspectives and concerns. It is entirely possible that a voter will find that all major parties agree on a particular issue. In this case, the voter will not have any meaningful way of expressing a dissenting opinion through his or her vote.

If we were to change our voting structure, we would give more power to groups other than the Republicans and Democrats. We would potentially see Libertarians, Social Democrats, Tea Partiers, and Communists getting a bigger say in the government. The simplistic "one or the other," "left vs. right" dichotomy would break down as a wider variety of political voices gained access to representation.