As many people are aware, our political system is extremely flawed. Our two-party system leaves our government stagnant and unable to effect change when change is really necessary. Our economy is collapsing, but politicians are only serving to please special interest groups. Financial power is translated to political power through campaign funding. Although many measures are taken to prevent private interests from controlling political elections, where there is a will (and money) there is a way. What can we do to fix these glaring problems? There are a few solutions, but they would require everyone to jump on board.
The first change we can do is to have only “clean elections,” or elections that are 100% funded by the public and not from private individuals and corporations. In clean elections, each citizen will have to contribute about $5 to $10 and each candidate will start with the same amount of funding for his campaigns. Many states have implemented Clean Election laws, notably Maine who now have 83% of their State Senate and 77% of their State House made up of “clean” elected officials. Many consider it a success as elections have become more competitive with a level playing field and more of a voter choice. Politicians elected in office normally think how their policies will support their political funders – in this case, they are taxpayers living in the state. If this system can be implemented across the nation and into national elections, the political system should become less corrupt and dependent on private interests. This will help to lessen the political power that certain wealthy citizens enjoy.
Another change that should happen and should have happened a while ago is proportional representation elections instead of winner-take-all. The current system rewards the person who played it smart and earned just enough support to claim the whole district or state that the votes totaled to. If the Democrats win 51% of the vote in a certain state, they will have 100% of the seats filled with Democrats. With proportional representation, if 51% are Democrat, 40% are Republican, and 9% are minor parties, about half the seat will go to Democrats, 40% will go to Republicans, and the minor parties will also get a seat. This is a fairer system that all the other countries with democracies practice. Our system is based on a very outdated Electoral College, which has lost its original purpose in our modern day. News can now travel from practically anywhere in the world, so citizens themselves are intelligent enough to decide for themselves who their elected official should be. They don’t need to elect a local official to do the voting for them. The new system allows minor/third parties to have a say in the political process and will actually represent the people like in a real representative democracy. This will also get rid of any corruption related to gerrymandering and have a much more true political system.
There are many issues with our government, but to effect any change we, as a people, have to come together and fight for what we believe in. We cannot simply just sit back and complain about all the problems. We should all try to do something about it. Then, just maybe people will actually trust our government.