BRINGING AMERICA TOGETHER AGAIN
Direct citizen action can fix what’s broken in American politics, but first we must relearn how to discuss our disagreements with civility and respect for someone else’s point of view.
Published: March 2020
America is broken. A nation so often united in times of war or disaster by a sense of common purpose now finds itself divided more than at any time since the Civil War. We see our once trusted, if sometimes untidy, system of politics, elections and governance no longer working in the ways it should. Yet agreement on how to fix what’s broken has become impossible because compromise, moderation and reasoned debate have been banished from the public square. Civility – our long-held respect for common decency, fair play and open-mindedness – has been replaced by an increasingly radical and intolerant partisanship that has poisoned not only our politics but so much else in our daily lives as well.
This polarization hasn’t happened overnight, and the blame can’t be placed on any single ideology or elected leader. Both parties share responsibility. But neither side, it appears, is prepared to be part of the solution. At the same time, other powerful voices in American life – media and popular culture, academia, even some of the business community – have chosen to take sides and further inflame the debate rather than support an objective search for answers.
This vacuum of leadership leaves it up to each one of us, within our own community, to find ways to take action and drive the change needed to bring the nation back together. We can’t wait for those in Washington or in our state and local governments to find solutions to our partisanship. In fact, waiting is not an option, because a broken America is a powerless America, an easy target for forces – foreign and domestic – that are eager to take advantage of our self-imposed weakness.
In response to this crisis, Two Paths America has identified five signature areas of focus we feel must be better addressed in order to bring America back together. Each can be initiated at the local or statewide level, where in fact a number of citizen-driven movements are already inspiring action. Following their example:
· We need to return civility to our public discourse;
· We need to fix the political party system;
· We need to get back to bipartisanship;
· We need to increase voter participation; and
· We need to address government accountability and ethical conduct in government.
At such a critical juncture in our nation’s history, when the very fabric of our democracy seems to be unravelling before our eyes, these are imperatives, not unachievable, utopian goals. Two Paths America believes that a renewal of our national sense of community and exemplary citizenship needs to start by addressing these issues, as we discuss in more detail here.
Restoring Civility
The restoration of civility – the way we talk to and respond to one another, then compromise our views and work with others to find commonsense solutions – is purposely listed first among these themes. Common courtesy is the key to rebuilding civility in America. Without a widespread willingness to slow down, listen to and respect – if not fully agree with – another point of view, then our attempts to forge meaningful political reform will fail. One might ask if a civil conversation is even possible today. With public discourse reaching an all-time low thanks to Twitter and other social-media combat zones, and in an atmosphere of impeachment and the 2020 election campaign, it’s easy to fear that civil discourse can never return to American politics or to society as a whole.
Two Paths America believes otherwise, pointing to local communities as models for statewide and national success (as so often the case). Across the country there are local governments, civic organizations and individual citizens showing us ways in which political conversations can take place in a calm, non-threatening and productive environment. These are the “safe spaces,” conflict-free forums where citizens feel free to speak in an atmosphere that can inspire real solutions. Take for example the New England tradition of town hall meetings, for decades respected as the ideal of direct, if spirited, citizen involvement. The New Hampshire town of Rye even takes the concept a step farther, by discussing important civic issues at “listening circles” that bring together townspeople on all sides for discussion, idea sharing and an opportunity to understand one another’s perspective.
Another example is Better Angels, a national citizens’ movement that works at the local level by setting up community discussions with citizens of various viewpoints in an effort to better understand one another and help remove common political misconceptions. Better Angels moderators help form red/blue community alliances, teach practical skills for communicating across political differences and help reduce polarization by starting at the grassroots level. Models like these – and there are plenty of others – can be copied by towns and cities nationwide to give citizens a place to voice their opinions and listen respectfully to neighbors, without fear of provoking social-media outrage. In return, citizens can gain new respect and understanding for differing political views, which will ultimately help foster a more tolerant society and government.
Fixing Our Political Process
At every level, from city hall to the state capital, from Capitol Hill to the White House, our political process (the way we nominate and elect our leaders, and the way they serve us) is the greatest victim of America’s lost civility. The process, and the people it places in power, are incapable of bringing the nation together to agree on solutions to our most urgent crises – immigration, health care, climate change, global trade and aggressive authoritarianism among them – which are left unchecked and unattended.
There is hope, however. There are steps we can take to begin reforming and revitalizing the political process; to begin to help restore public trust and faith in government; and to help reestablish American democracy into something Americans can be proud of once again. In fact, many of these approaches or some variation have already been adopted by certain state and local jurisdictions. While Two Paths America does not necessarily endorse any specific proposal, we are convinced that these ideas need to be considered and debated at every level of governance. Examples, described briefly here, include:
· Election Systems: Throughout our history, the vast majority of our elections have been decided by the winner-take-all strategy. In a race with more than two names on the ballot, the candidate with the most votes wins, even if the winning total is less than a majority of all votes. The flaw in this system is that it can give larger voting blocs all the power and leave smaller voting blocs unrepresented. In fact, the winner-take-all model has been blamed as an underlying cause of the major issues with our electoral system as well as the partisan gridlock in Washington and many state legislatures. Fortunately, there are a number of alternative voting systems already used successfully in some U.S. jurisdictions and more widely abroad that are designed to create a more fair and representative political system. The results are election outcomes more proportional to the voters’ intent.
These alternatives include variations of ranked-choice voting systems (presently used in the State of Maine for federal elections, and in some U.S. cities). Ranked-choice systems give voters the choice to state their first- and second-choice preferences in a race, or more preferences depending on the number of candidates on the ballot for a particular office. Other alternatives include open-ticket voting, cumulative voting and direct-plus voting – all discussed in detail at nonpartisan on-line sites such as the National Conference of State Legislatures.
· Gerrymandering: It’s an age-old, if not notorious, American tradition that state legislative and congressional districts often are formed in convoluted – gerrymandered – ways that maximize the power of the political party drawing the lines. The results are “safe” districts for the line-drawing party or districts they choose to write off and crowd with their opponents. Either way, these are districts that can never be won by the other side. Gerrymandering distorts the way we are governed by giving enormous power to the political extremes who now control parties, marginalizing voters outside those extremes, insulating officeholders from constituent concerns and, in the end, depressing voter participation. When candidates cater only to the extreme fringes of their political party, the ability to compromise is lost and the partisan divide deepens.
We applaud states that have moved to end or reduce the damaging effects of gerrymandered districting in their legislatures. Going even further, we need to call on Congress to exercise its power under Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution to forbid partisan gerrymandering in the drawing of congressional districts. Congress can also address gerrymandering by passing a law that would require independent districting commissions for Congress or eliminate single-member districts and create ranked-choice voting or a multiple-member mechanism. This would help speed a return to the “middle” in politics, where a majority of voters see themselves.
Some progress is being made on this front. For example, voters in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah, with strong bipartisan support, passed measures to make future drawing of legislative district maps in their states fairer and more transparent. In 2018, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan plan to change the way congressional maps are drawn. This trend continued into 2019 with redistricting reforms passing legislatures in New Hampshire and Virginia. Encouraged by those results, efforts are well underway in other states to make changes in the leadup to next round of map-drawing in 2021.
· The Electoral College: Not a political-party creation, the Electoral College is fundamental to our Constitution and thus not easy – or debatably wise – to abolish, as some suggest. However, reforms to the way states approach their Electoral College obligations could remove some of its distorting effects on presidential elections. To date, only two states have moved away from the traditional winner-take-all formula for allocating Electoral College votes, apportioning their votes proportionally based on election results. In all other states, the winner-take-all method awards the entire block of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate selected by a majority of the state’s voters. Until more states utilize a proportional approach to distributing electoral votes, presidential campaigns and the resulting political power will remain concentrated in a dozen or so “swing” states, which are typically less diverse than the nation as a whole. As a result, candidates will continue to bend their policies to the interests of an unrepresentative few.
· Political Fundraising: An obvious starting place for fixing the American political process is to address campaign funding, the necessary but potentially toxic element in our election process. The flood of special-interest money that fuels election campaigns, especially for congressional races, can distort a candidate’s (and eventual officeholder’s) priorities, and in that way threaten our entire system of governance. A number of remedies are worthy of discussion and many are already being put to work at the state and local level, often as the result of direct citizen initiatives.
The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, holding that political spending is protected under the First Amendment, opened the door for corporations, labor unions and other interests to support political candidates with unlimited funding. In the 2016 federal election cycle, for example, $2.3 billion of the total $6.5 billion spent came from just 0.01 percent of the nation’s adult population. The small number of donors who gave $100,000 or more spent more than 8 million smaller donors combined, giving large donors much more say and impact.
A proposal by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law seeks to advance a new system of small-donor public funding to federal and state elections. This model of public funding does not seek to end all private fundraising, but rather to amplify the impact of small gifts through a multiple match of public money. This would help elevate the voices of ordinary citizens who otherwise might be discouraged from making contributions to their preferred candidates. The Brennan Center for Justice as well as several other reform-minded organizations have suggested providing tax credits or rebates to citizens who make small contributions, typically $100 or less. Tax credits and rebates make it more attractive for individuals to give to their preferred candidate or party. As with small-donor matching, tax incentives encourage more small donors to participate in our elections and help candidates rely less on large contributions.
Getting Back to Bipartisanship
While the American legislative process and other systems of government may not always live up to the Constitution’s ideals, a tradition of bipartisan civility and respect has most often been the rule. While issues have always divided us, bitter partisan disagreement on the most fundamental tenets of our nation’s defense, international policy, patriotism and human dignity have been rare.
Throughout American history, bipartisanship has produced constructive compromise and problem solving, especially in times when that’s been needed most. Some of the longest lasting, most effective and most popular congressional legislation has been the result of bipartisan efforts. But in recent years, the traditional “aisle” to be crossed for bipartisan accord has become an ever-widening gulf, which few dare to approach, must less cross.
To breathe new life into bipartisanship and restore some semblance of civility, compromise and common purpose to government, we need to take apart the systems that are failing us and throw off structural constraints that were put in place solely to benefit political parties and their patrons. Ending gerrymandering and reducing the power of special-interest money, would be starters. Election reforms such as ranked-choice voting, open or non-partisan primaries and run-off elections are all worth exploring, then tested in the laboratory of the states. One suggestion for Congress is to require equal representation by each party on at least some congressional committees as one small step toward bipartisanship on the House and Senate floors. Already, both the Committee on Ethics in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics have an equal number of members from each party. Other congressional committees should look closely at those examples.
Increasing Voter Participation
As the noise, money and media obsession with elections grow stronger, voter interest and participation have actually declined. When citizens no longer trust their government and its leaders, are turned off by partisan rancor, see no real choice among candidates and feel disempowered by the electoral process, they become less inclined to take part in that process. That is one more reason why those with the loudest, most extreme voices and the deepest pockets prevail on election day.
To reverse this corrosive trend and increase voter participation, particularly among younger citizens, we need to re-empower the majority of Americans who are in the middle. This means giving them the confidence – and the tools – to assert their decision-making power at the ballot box, in the candidate-selection process and in public forums where commonsense, bipartisan solutions can get their start.
There is an argument to be made that the most undemocratic actions taking place in this country have been systematic attempts to inhibit voter registration and make it harder, not easier, for Americans to vote. It should be in every state’s interest and it should be every administration’s top priority to increase the number of registered voters and, ultimately, to increase voter turnout. Ohio is one of the states working to reform its voting system by automating voter registration and increasing the sharing of information between state agencies to avoid or limit controversial voter purges.
Another reform, currently used in at least 15 states and the District of Columbia, involves an “opt-out” voter registration system. There are variations, but in general, every eligible voter is automatically registered to vote when they have any interaction with a state agency – such as renewing a driver’s license – unless they specifically state that they do not want to be registered to vote. A number of other states are considering a move to “opt-out” registration.
It is voter apathy however, not a lack of access, that often results in low voter participation. Two Paths America believes that much of this can be overcome by reforms giving voters more reason to trust our election system and become less cynical about politics and politicians. Other reforms, specific to the systems for voting, voter access and registration are being applied at the state and local level. There is an urgent need to introduce these reforms in all states and jurisdictions.
Vote-by-mail is one of the ways to increase participation in elections. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 21 states have provisions that allow certain elections to be conducted entirely by mail. Ballots are mailed well ahead of an election day and voters have an extended period of time to cast their votes. Mail-in systems do not preclude in-person voting during the early-voting period or on election day. Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Hawaii hold all elections entirely by mail. Other states allow individual counties to decide whether they should conduct their voting by mail. The convenience associated with the vote-by-mail method may increase voter participation.
Addressing Accountability and Ethics in Government
As steps toward achieving a higher standard of accountability and ethics in our federal government, Two Paths America embraces proposals made by the bipartisan National Task Force on Rule of Law & Democracy, based at the Brennan Center for Justice. In its “Proposals for Reform,” the task force (co-chaired by former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, a member of Two Paths America’s national advisory committee) outlines a set of reforms to be enacted or enforced by Congress in order to rein in ethical breaches and protect the integrity of law enforcement in the executive branch. Among the National Task Force’s eleven proposals are recommendations to:
· Require candidates for president and vice president to release personal and business tax returns;
· Modernize financial disclosure rules to prevent self-dealing and corruption;
· Empower the watchdog Office of Government Ethics to better enforce ethics laws;
· Extend conflict of interest rules to the president and vice president; and
· Shield special counsels from arbitrary firing.
These and other proposals by the National Task Force help advance an effort to turn what have traditionally been unwritten rules and norms of government behavior into commonsense, bipartisan laws. Two Paths America believes these ideas merit full, bipartisan discussion in Congress, as well as support and input from a broad audience of stakeholders.
The Bottom Line
Two Paths America is convinced that the strength of our nation lies in the American people, in our communities and neighborhoods, and – most importantly – in each of us individually. To heal an increasingly divided America, it is up to each of us to choose a higher path for ourselves and our communities, supported by elected officials who stand for historic American values. These are the values of civility, mutual respect and the spirit of political compromise; the recognition that government policies must be broadly accepted to be effective; the conviction that our history as a melting pot is a major national asset; and the underlying truth that no one is to be excluded from opportunity or given the ability to participate in the civic life and prosperity of America.
Two Paths America is dedicated to generating renewed emphasis on these values, and on the need for Americans to exercise the full rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.
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