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Dear John, Our worst fears about our democracy were realized yesterday. The horrific events, and those responsible for them, are a stain on our history and democracy itself. When elected leaders spread lies about our elections and incite violence – while shocking – no one should be surprised when sedition is the result. Yesterday’s unprecedented events were a build up of years if not decades of growing polarization and civil unrest, enabled by an antiquated voting system that is woefully ill equipped to produce the kind of inclusive, representative and responsive political leadership required to lead a large pluralistic first-world society like ours in the 21st century. To be clear - our old electoral rules expressly allow for candidates to win without the consent of a majority of voters. Many leaders, including those at the highest level of government, take office representing extreme factions and ignore the vast majority of Americans they were elected to serve. As political scientist Lee Drutman wrote in today’s NBC News, “Democracy reform has to be the top issue for 2021.” We are in a moment of crisis. The only way to ensure we effectively address the polarization and extremism leading up to yesterday’s events is to act swiftly to adopt sweeping democracy reforms and, most importantly, Ranked Choice Voting to create a system where leaders are elected by and responsive to the broad majority. This is fundamental to any well-functioning democracy. We at FairVote Minnesota are committed to doing everything we can to advance this critical reform in Minnesota and stand with our democracy allies in strengthening our democracy on all fronts. This moment only underscores the importance of our work and our resolve together to see it through.
Jeanne Massey |
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