This comment is from Rick Hubbard, a retired attorney and former economic consultant who lives in South Burlington.
I’m a native Vermonter now entering my ninth decade of life and I’m writing to explain why, starting October 1st, I’ll be crossing America from Los Angeles to our US Capitol in Washington , DC, to help. fix our broken democracy.
Our federal political system is not working well today. It is not properly serving our common good. We are heading for autocracy, instead of strengthening our representative democracy.
Here’s how bad it is:
Most of us have lost faith in Washington.
We urgently need candidates and representatives who will fix our democracy to properly serve our common good.
The system has been hijacked to ensure that those in power maintain it.
Unscrupulous politicians are willing to corrupt and destroy the very institutions and rights that brought them to power.
There is little correlation between being elected and serving the will of the people.
Both major parties put the re-election interests of their candidates and the interests of their party and major campaign contributors ahead of our public interests and the common good.
They rig the system and set the rules to stifle competition from independent and third-party candidates.
They control the money, the debates and the primaries. They even draw their own voting districts.
Congress is adjourned so regularly that there is little progress on issues important to most of us. Small percentages of our representatives can block actions that benefit the largest percentage of us all.
Meanwhile, nearly half of American families can’t earn enough to pay for basics like rent and food.
We see the very rich get much richer, while many see the collapse of the middle class.
And the working class faces low wages, dead-end jobs, debt, homelessness, lack of health care, and little educational opportunity.
For the first time since the Great Depression, life expectancy in the US is falling, as drug overdoses and suicides are on the rise. Once a world leader in health care and education in advanced economies, we are now in the bottom quarter in health care and in the bottom half in education. Life-saving prescriptions and unaffordable medical bills are why most Americans file for bankruptcy.
Our country is getting poorer, sicker, more divided, and our families are paying the price. There is an urgent need for a properly functioning government to serve our common good.
The good news is that we can fix it.
States create rules that organize elections, even federal ones. So passing laws in our state to make things better makes federal elections work better.
Here’s what we can do:
We can make our political system fairer, more inclusive, more competitive and more representative.
We can have independent commissions draw voting districts.
We can make it illegal for lobbyists to donate to politicians, so the representatives we elect will better serve our interests.
We can have publicly funded campaigns, not just by 2% of us like now, but by 100% of all registered voters, using just a small credit or refund of the taxes we’ve already paid to support the candidates of our choice. This will dramatically change who candidates should pay attention to.
We can reform our political process to achieve more competition, more turnover and better representation for our common good, or if that can’t be achieved, set reasonable term limits for elected officials.
We can adopt open and widespread primaries that list all candidates, regardless of party, and allow 100% of all registered voters to vote. We can use ranked choice voting to elect only those candidates the majority of us support, as well as allow independents and third parties to run without spoiling the election.
We can enact secure automatic voter registration and ballots from home. We can have more people vote in safe elections and make voting easier.
Millions of us are already involved and have already racked up over 100 victories in cities and states across America. But millions more must join us, and that is why I invite you to join us.
People close to you are fighting for these improvements and need your help. So please register and be a part of the next victory in your state. And organize and join nonpartisan citizen walks to fix our democracy in your community, on concert dates and times with other people across America in their communities.
And vote only for politicians who will fix our democracy.
If enough of us act together, we can fix the system so that government can work for you, your family, and the rest of us, not just for a handful of special interests and privileged individuals.
We can do it! We can fix our democracy, prevent autocracy, and unlock progress toward our common good. Join us! Thanks.
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