Politics Isn't Broken. It's Fixed.
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Politics isn’t broken. It’s fixed.
Thank you for your comments and ideas around optimism. Some of you commented on the difference between hope and optimism and pointed out that they are not necessarily the same. In this particular post, I chose NOT to spend a lot of energy on the distinction, but I do recognize there is one. I did talk more about that in this post called Why I chose Hope from June 2020.
This week, I want to talk politics. I know. It’s a bit of a no-no. And to some extent it is like talking about sex with a teenager…..it’s a hot topic, but I am not sure I am bringing anything new! But nonetheless, this is an important conversation to be had, so let’s dig in.
The reason for starting this newsletter was very simple. I am concerned about the quality of our civil discourse, and I felt that the most effective thing I could do is to try to build a community of people who (a) share that concern and (b) are interested and willing to read and engage with content that helps elevate our perspective such that we can bridge gaps and find more common ground between the issues that seem to be pushing us further apart. I think our politics have become so toxic that it is difficult to see how anything productive can get done. What’s even worse, is that it is making us less human, less loving, and less connected to the best version of ourselves.
So, we do have a problem. Almost anyone I talk to recognizes that the current outlook, politically speaking, is bleak. Regardless of where you sit on any ideological spectrum, you can’t be pleased with what you see. Can you?
So, I have spent quite some time lately thinking about what our political problems are and what we can do about them.
When you diagnose any problem, particularly complex problems such as politics, it is a good idea to elevate your perspective and look at it as a system. Oftentimes, when you do, you will realize that we are actually getting exactly the outcomes that the system is designed to generate.
I genuinely believe that the people running for office have good intentions. They want to contribute to a better future. But our current system of elections amplifies and rewards differences over commonalities and ultimately elects people who actually represent a tiny sliver of the American electorate. Lastly, the process itself is so toxic that it changes both the people running for office themselves and makes future collaboration effectively impossible.
This could be a very long post. Or a book! But don’t worry. I will keep it fairly short. I simply want to remind ourselves that "it is the system stupid." If we don't change our system, our system will change us. And I am afraid it already has. So, it's urgent and important business.
In my own research and dialogue with much smarter people than me on this topic, I was introduced to Katherine Gehl. A fellow Midwesterner who, after a successful journey as a CEO of a food business (a Midwestern food executive MUST be someone I love!), decided to dedicate her talents and resources to understanding and fixing our political system.
It is from her that I borrowed the title of this newsletter. Our political system isn’t broken. It is fixed. What she means is that it is producing exactly the politics it is designed to deliver, which is a two-party system that effectively blocks out competition and pushes politics to increasingly polarized positions.
She did significant research together with Professor Michael Porter at Harvard Business School and they published a book linked below. They ultimately developed an innovative voting process called Final Five Voting. I believe it is the most practical idea I have heard that satisfies two key requirements for an improved political future.
First, it’s doable. It doesn’t require constitutional amendments or incredibly difficult and impossible political maneuvering. And therein lies our typical barrier to change: the people in charge of our current system typically don’t want to change it. This is sometimes called “the Upton Sinclair truth” which states: “It’s difficult to make a man understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it”. Half of our states allow ballot initiatives, which means the process is rather straightforward for these states to get the ball rolling. It takes a few dedicated people to garner enough votes to put Final Five Voting on the ballot, and then, of course, convince a majority of the electorate that this is a good idea. It has already been done in Alaska, and is soon going to be on other ballots in Nebraska, and then hopefully many other states.
Second, it changes our system, not our people. It simply will “produce” better political choices, broader electoral support, and ultimately better politics. It does so via two key innovations: a single primary election and ranked-choice voting. A singular primary means that a state will hold one primary where all candidates seeking to win a seat will compete. All eligible voters in a state can vote in that primary regardless of party affiliation. The other key aspect is that you don’t vote for one candidate. Rank choice voting basically means that you vote for your top 5 candidates, and then the candidate who first receives 51% of the votes wins. Typically, in most elections today, it is often enough to win 30% of an electorate to win the election. This produces poor representation. However, rank choice voting ensures much broader representation by counting all votes cast in order of their ranking until one majority candidate is selected.
I will let Katherine herself help describe what Final Five Voting entails in the links below and I encourage you to learn more as well as support her important work as much as you can. I really believe Final Five Voting could change our system, and ultimately produce politics that is unfixed, and therefore, no longer broken!
Here are some resources about Katherine’s great work:
Katherine Gehl’s TEDx talk from a few years ago with the same title as this post!
This is an even shorter primer on Final Five Voting
Katherine Gehl’s website with her book and tons of other useful information including how to support their work
An older podcast with Katherine and Dr. Mark Hyman that is also very informative
A great article in TIME with Jonathan Haidt and Katherine around Final Five Voting
This is a good article from the New Yorker about the structural issues plaguing our politics
And if you need more inspiration around our democracy, I encourage you to read David Brook’s latest column around why things look so dark and why our engagement is so acutely needed. I found it so inspiring despite (or maybe because of) the severity of the situation.
I know politics is exhausting. Most of us feel helpless and small in trying to think about how to affect it. And for that reason, I don't spend much time in the political arena. But I know you agree with me that we can do better than this. And while easy to blame people, I think it’s time to actually fix the plumbing so that what is stuck in there can get flushed out. And as painful as any truth might be, WE do get the democracy WE deserve. So, it starts with us!
Have a great week!
