The US government no longer accurately reflect the positions held by the majority of Americans. It has become too dominated by political extremes. A recent Washington Post series highlighted the flaws in American democracy and how it might be changed. I’ve selected a few I thought were reasonable.
- Modify the electoral college. Eliminating the electoral college and electing a president based on popular vote is an ever-popular idea. However, the college is useful for preserving the balance of power between the federal and state levels. Nevertheless, apportioning electors by a common citizens per representative factor would be more fair.
- Eliminate primary elections. Primary elections emphasize polarizing candidates. Four states have done away with them by simply listing all candidates on one ballot. If no one achieves a majority, a run-off election is held. Alternatively, ranked choice voting can be applied. It has proven effective once voters get used to it.
- Redistrict using a commission. In most states, the party in power determines how congressional districts are drawn after each census, which has led to weird configurations. An independent commission would fix this.
- Automatically enroll voters. It may be possible to eliminate the voter registration process and enroll a person when s/he receives a driver’s license. America has a low voter turn-out compared to other democracies, so removing this step could encourage more to engage.
- Limit Supreme Court terms to 18 years. A recent study on changes to the Supreme Court suggested limiting a justice’s term to 18 years and replacing one every two years. This would reduce the election distortion that occurs when justices are nearing retirement.
- Filibuster in person: The Senate did away with the formality of making someone stand on the floor when filibustering. Filibusters are used when a Senator with a minority position wants to delay a vote on a bill likely to pass. Making a Senator stand for hours may make it less likely to be used.
The historical trend has been for governance to better reflect the people being governed: that is why democracies are preferred over dictatorships or fiefdoms. Problems arise, however, when democracies poorly reflect the values of the people. Correcting this can simply be a matter of changing the rules by which governance is executed.
These techniques seem reasonable. Enacting them will be challenging but is worthwhile if it restores the intent of democracy—a government by the people, for the people.
Source:
Dan Balz, “Repairing Cracks in American Democracy,” Washington Post, 31 December 2023, A1
Photo: Gary Cameron (Reuters)