Be sure to check out the NPR link to learn more
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Hi Friend,

 

Amidst record-low temperatures across the Southern US, power grid failures are
compounding problems, leaving hundreds of thousands of families without power
when they need it most. 

 

Texans are showing up for neighbors and strangers alike to help those
struggling to stay safe, fed, and warm, while managing for the dangers of a
pandemic at the same time. So why aren’t Texas’ elected leaders?

 

There’s not much that politicians could say at this time to make it better,
but there sure are hell things they can do to not make it worse;
finger-pointing and partisan bickering won’t get the grid up—or Texans
safer—any faster.

 

In the spirit of democracy reforms to make government, well, govern better,
here are three things to think about this week:

“Anti-democratic and elitist purity test for candidates”
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What, you might ask, is an anti-democratic and elitist purity test for
candidates? Partisan primaries, according to anew blog by Kevin Kosar
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, resident scholar at the conservative think tank AEI. As Americans still
grapple with the fallout of another impeachment trial, Republican legislators
who supported impeaching a member of their own party now face hordes of angry
primary voters, ready to oust them in favor of a primary challenger who is a
“real conservative”. 

 

It’s become a tedious balancing act for sitting representatives: toe the party
line, lest you draw the ire of a would-be primary challenger. This fear of
being primaried is a huge force in our politics, pushing elected officials to
serve this small constituency over the interests of the public at large.
Fortunately, the incentives can be changed.

 

Alaskans passed a ballot measure this past year that created a nonpartisan
primary system, allowing all Alaskans to vote in the primary to determine which
four candidates move on to the general election. By enfranchising all Alaskans
— including the over 58% of Alaskans who aren’t declared with either party — 
elected officials are free to serve the interests ofall voters. For Senator
Lisa Murkowski, the only one of the seven Republicans who voted to convict
Trump during impeachment, and the only one who faces reelection next year, this
means that she won’t be “punished” in the same way she might have otherwise
been for “putting principle over party.”Check out the NPR story on Alaska’s new
system and her vote here
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.



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Move over, Presidents Day.
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Over the weekend, Americans celebrated Presidents Day; a day set aside for us
to honor the executive of our country. But asYuval Levin points out in the
National Review <[link removed]>,
wouldn’t a day honoring Congress be more apropos?

 

Given the current state of legislative decision making in our country, you
wouldn’t be faulted for saying no. Congress — designed and intended to be the
space for diverse viewpoints to come together, negotiate, and find accord with
one another — has completely abandoned their lawmaking role, allowing the
spirit of bipartisanship to become derelict along with the balance of power of
our political system. 

 

The only way out? Change the incentives of the current system. Says Levin,
“But if you think that enabling and compelling compromise is the very purpose
of the institution, and that Congress’s serving that purpose is essential to
the health of our broader political culture, then you wouldincline toward the
first path of reform — making compromise more likely to happen by enabling the
institution to better represent the political diversity of the country and to
function as an arena for bargaining and accommodation.”



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Americans don’t feeling represented
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.
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Despite George Washington’s warnings and desires, our Republic has long been a
two-party system. And today, with the two factions in power so bitterly
divided, it comes as no surprise that when we divide the world into a hard-line
binary, a good portion of Americans feel left out and unrepresented. 

 

Indeed, a new poll by Gallup shows that support for a third political party is
at a record high
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, as62% of Americans say that the two political parties do such a poor job of
representing the American people that a new party is needed. Certainly, this
62% is made up in large part by independent voters (70%), but also Republicans
(63%) and Democrats (46%) who feel dissatisfied with their parties. 

 

We know from experience: without reform, empowering a viable third party is
extraordinarily difficult
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, especially in the current political climate, which has been designed to
maintain the status quo around the two parties. To create an opportunity for
viable third, fourth, and fifth parties, we need to create a system that’s more
responsive to the needs of all Americans.



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Brett
__
Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
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