These two insights—that the number of political choices we have is oddly low and that this is a result of the majoritarian electoral system—naturally suggest a remedy: why don’t we change the way we run elections to allow voters more choice? This is what a number of political reformers have been arguing for with increasing urgency over the last years. America, they believe, should adopt a system of “proportional representation.” This would allow a much larger number of political parties to vie for the favor of voters, with each gaining seats in the House of Representatives in rough proportion to the overall number of votes they have been able to attract across the nation.

The most eloquent and persistent advocate of this argument has long been Lee Drutman, a friend and former colleague who works at New America. On Tuesday, he published a splashy op-ed in The New York Times. Proportional representation, Lee and his co-author Jesse Wegman argue, would “fix” many of the frustrations Americans have with their politics, from polarization to the deep unpopularity of Congress.