Proportional representation could be a solution to our democracy's corrupting, despotic concentration of power. Political writers have perceived the limits of power any person or body can have to be the foundation of a free society. I was introduced to the importance of the limits to power in Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws and later in the political writings of writers like John Locke.

First past the post is a system that can give established political parties majorities, with near absolute power, with a little over one third of the popular vote. We must also consider the other side of the equation. New parties, which can be a response to abuses by established parties, can get over ten percent of the popular vote and win no seats. First past the post shuts out new political movements, giving established parties a despotic stranglehold on power.