Reflections After Another Broken Election: Despair & Hope

Good Democracy takes time! I spent most of Election Day 2020 working at a poll in south St. Louis City on behalf of Proposition D - a local, reform effort to make St. Louis City elections fairer and more competitive. For me, being outside and talking to voters all day was energizing. People of every race, creed and color were voting; moms carrying their toddlers, "other abled" adults in wheelchairs, and elderly couples walking hand-in-hand to the front door. It was good to see our Democracy in action!

Then, like many of you, I spent most of the night on my couch at home watching national election coverage. What I saw made me so sad. The anxiety-producing, negative energy of our divide and conquer politics was front and center. Red and Blue was everywhere. Only red and blue. Indeed, we have been trained to believe that every person, county, district and state is either red or blue. We have been trained to believe that red or blue is the only choice we have. Even worse, we seem to believe that red or blue is the best we can do. If I'm on the "red team," I don't just want to win, I want to see the other team lose, and suffer. If I'm on the "blue team" I want the same thing. Winning isn't enough. The other side must pay. The other "team" isn't simply misguided, they are "idiots, or communists, or racists; greedy or granola, tyranny lovers or tree huggers." Labels. Name calling. Petty partisan politics.

Really? Is this false binary of two fundamentally flawed options the best we can do? It can't be. As a political independent, with no home in either party, the sea of red and blue all over the map of my country breaks my heart. It's sad and depressing. In a country with over 328 million people we are so much more diverse, and so much better, than red or blue.

As a cross-partisan democracy reformer, here is the Gospel I preach every day: people from all over the political spectrum must come together and admit that our political system is broken, corrupt and dysfunctional. And, as such, our political system needs to be drastically reformed as a FIRST priority. We desperately need political innovation and we need it now. We need an army of political entrepreneurs and innovators---red, blue, purple, green, yellow, and every other political tribe or color under the sun---who won't stop fighting until our democracy works again for "we the people." We need new rules and we need a new political system. Right now, the system only works for "we the wealthy," "we the Major Party insiders," "we the entrenched special interests," "we the lobbyists," the media, consultants, career politicians and everyone else who profits from our bloated, ineffective political-industrial complex. The system is broken, and it needs to be fixed.

Friends, times such as these should help all of us see the light. We need a political reformation, now! If we don't act boldly to implement real, systematic reforms, then it is very likely that, in our lifetime, we will have a violent, political revolution, from one (or both) of the political extremes. The same extremes that our broken system incentivizes and empowers through closed primaries, plurality voting and anti-competitive campaign rules. Our toxic, hyper-partisan politics are fueled by a system where only the two major parties write the rules. The red and the blue team keep competition out at all costs. And, they have no incentive to solve our nation's most pressing problems when they can raise more money, and hold on to more power simply through fear and division, blame shifting and obstruction. This is a complete, system failure. And so, we need to focus on fixing the political system itself. We need a political Reformation!

Regardless of who wins this election, in our current, broken "duopoly," we are all losing. The stakes have never been higher. Will you lay down your partisan disputes, remove your red or blue team jersey, and join me in building a powerful, cross-partisan movement for a better democracy? For the sake of our country? For the sake of our children?

There is a lot of work to do. So, let's start local and let's start TODAY! Start by joining a cross-partisan democracy reform organization in your city or state. There are literally hundreds of non-partisan or cross-partisan democracy reform organizations nationwide. These reform organizations give me hope. Working together, we can reform our democracy, and transform the way "we the people" lead and run our government.

How do I know this? Because I help lead a local, cross-partisan democracy reform organization here in Missouri called Show Me Integrity. We were one of the primary supporters of "Proposition D for (better) Democracy" in St. Louis City. Prop D passed with over 68% support! Now, St. Louis will have a more inclusive and competitive elections. Eventually, this reform will help transform St. Louis City's government. Next up: St. Louis County and the State of Missouri! We will transform our political system, and our government, one city, one county, and one state at a time.

If we come together, we can fix our broken democracy. We can do so much better than red or blue. We can do so much better than a "duopoly" writing all the rules in its own favor, blaming the other party for everything that's wrong, keeping out real competition, and spending billions of dollars on elections and fundraising, while spending precious little time solving our nation's problems. We can do so much better than fear mongering, divide and conquer, win at all cost politics. YES, WE CAN. AND, NOW, WE MUST!!

Will we place the good of our nation and the future of our democratic republic above our partisan disputes? It's up to you, and it's up to me.