Back when I was researching Libertarianism I read about alternative voting systems in California, and just now I found a report on Australia.
http://blogs.britannica.com/2010/09/the-alternative-vote-system-explained/
...I know how it works. I also know that it would provide a stable alternative to our current system of third-party candidates "stealing votes" from one or the other oligarchical party.
To quote the article:
"How voters cast their subsequent preferences is far more difficult to ascertain—or even to influence. None of the mainstream parties wish to be associated with, for example, extremist parties. Nor are they likely to appeal to such voters to gain their subsequent preferences."
This sounds pretty close to ideal to me, especially after decades of watching the Republican party continue to plow toward the cliff at the conservative end of the political spectrum.
I realize that the media will push their guy. As long as the media is free, thinkers can still access the information they need to make good decisions from.
You do realize the majority of voters in this country aren't "thinkers," right?
The majority are uneducated compared to what is needed for responsible citizenship, and are easily swayed by the indoctrination of their childhood.
They still rely on the mainstream media, which masquerades as "journalism," and hasn't been "free" (read: objective) in a generation or two.
And thus under your system will be just as easily swayed to the candidate the wealthy want them to support as they are under the current system, and nothing would change.