A PLAN FOR IMPROVING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

There is good news for those looking for some non-partisan scholarly research on what is wrong with our American experiment in constitutional representative government along with recommendations on how to make needed repairs.  The American Academy of Arts & Sciences recently published a detailed report on democracy in America prepared by the Academy’s bipartisan Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

For those unfamiliar with the Academy’s role in shaping important topics, John Adams and other Massachusetts residents founded the Academy in 1780. The original charter, never altered, was “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people.” Over the years, the Academy has sponsored numerous initiatives to analyze and improve American democracy.  This most recent effort resulted in a “common purpose” report with the lofty goal of adapting the world’s oldest constitutional democracy to the twenty-first century.

The report deserves the full attention of every American who is fed-up with our ugly, partisan polarization and who would like to consider some alternatives. The Commission did its fact-finding in three main ways. It reviewed the existing quantitative data and literature on political and civic engagement and socioeconomic conditions; it consulted with numerous scholars and experts; and it held nearly fifty listening sessions in small towns, suburban areas, and some of the nation’s largest cities.  The commission found that 61% of Americans believe significant changes to the fundamental design and structure of government are needed to make it work in current times.

The final report identified 31 recommendations grouped among six categories called strategies. While the findings and proposed fixes will not all be universally accepted, they provide an excellent vehicle to jump-start the conversation. The report may be found at: https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/report.  What follows is an overview of the proposals.

·      Strategy 1: Achieve Equality of Voice and Representation

Enlarge the House of Representatives to make it reflect state demographics. Introduce “ranked-choice voting” in federal and state elections. Support adoption of independent citizen redistricting commissions to reduce gerrymandering. Amend the Constitution to regulate election contributions. Pass “clean election laws” at all levels of government. Place 18 year term limits on Supreme Court justices.

·      Strategy 2:  Empower Voters

Give people more choices about where and when to vote. Change Election Day to Veterans Day when many people are off work. Establish same-day registration. Establish pre-registration for minors. Establish that voting becomes a requirement for every citizen. Establish voter orientation for new voters. Restore voting rights to the majority of citizens with felony convictions.

·      Strategy 3:  Ensure the Responsiveness of Government Institutions

 Adopt formats that would encourage participation in public hearings. Design mechanisms for the public to interact with elected officials.

·      Strategy 4:  Dramatically Expand Civic Bridging Capacity

Scale up social, civic and democratic infrastructure. Appropriate Congressional funds annually along the model of the National Endowment for Democracy.

·      Strategy 5:  Build Civic Information Architecture that Supports Common Purpose

Appoint a high-level working group to articulate and measure social media’s civic obligations. Place a tax on digital advertising with the tax proceeds used to support public media platforms at the state and local level, including investigative journalism. Develop regulations that would require for-profit digital platforms to support public media platforms. Require digital platforms to develop software that would permit researchers to measure and evaluate democratic engagement on social media.

·      Strategy 6:  Inspire a Culture of Commitment to American Constitutional Democracy and One Another

Establishment of one year of national civil service with expanded funding for service programs. Establish a national storytelling initiative designed to dovetail with the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  Increase public and private funding to inform the public and encourage commitment to our constitutional democracy and to one another. Invest in civic education for all ages.

It is impossible to understand the depth and importance of this report without taking some time to digest not only the recommendations, but also the reasoning behind each proposal. Sadly, efforts of this ilk are often assigned to the dustbin of history because of the lack of politicaan elected official in his/her next campaign for office.

This result is not a foregone conclusion. The report was formulated by and written for concerned voters across America, not politicians. We need a substantial number of citizens to set aside our partisan differences. Each of us needs to read the report and incorporate it into our knowledge of what can be accomplished. We are then in a position to begin an honest discussion on the future of our democracy.