The new rules of the game that Gehl and Porter are advocating for in The Politics Industry are simple:
- Level the playing field by using top-five voting or RCV to allow healthier competition, and allow your citizens to vote on who they favor rather than having to pick from a bucket.
- Create better competition and force the candidates and representatives to become more accountable to the citizens which in turn creates a better government.
- Finely restructure the way we think about our legislative branch. Long ago, our nation decided it was reasonable for the Senate and Congress to create their own rules. Now that we have decades of data to see those rules at work, it’s become apparent that the structure of these two bodies is to repeal and replace rather than create then improve. We need to change this idealism and create a non-partisan commission to restructure and rewrite the rules of our legislative body.
I see sports and politics as one and the same. The idea of two teams in competition against one another, both with the same goal, the desire to win, and both in the same league. We have dedicated networks that offer different opinions, report highlights for the day and analysis of each representative or athlete on what they did and why. This means that as spectators we pick and choose who we support, the teams that we follow. We listen to what the players and coaches have to say and believe them. Politics has become just a game and updating/rule changing is needed. We need better and more fair competition with the opportunity for our representatives to work together and become more accountable to constituents.
We can do it but we have to start now.
Ben Walton is the Head of Program Development for The People. Prior to working for The People, Ben served as the High School and College Coordinator for Voters Not Politicians. Ben received his BA in Political Science from Aquinas College in 2018
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Politics for the People Zoom Call
With Author Katherine Gehl
Sunday, October 18th
7pm ET
Click here to RSVP!
