Burning Questions

One of the burning questions about saving our democracy is how to jump start voter turnout, no matter whether in state, municipal or federal elections.

Again, I like  talking politics to near-strangers I meet.  Here  are some of their answers to the question above.  Nothing might seem terribly new, but that’s because we’ve yet to find  the political will to even experiment with change.

1.  Pay individuals, starting at age 18, to register to vote.  Pay them something every time they vote.  In a capitalist democracy, nothing motivates like money.  The federal government has just given three trillion dollars to its citizens to get the economy off life support.  Good use of taxpayer dollars, I think.  So is paying citizens something to insure our democracy. The payment might be in cash, or perhaps a tax deduction or credit on your income tax. 

2. Impose a tax “penalty” for failing to vote—use the stick as well as the carrot.  We are not  “a free country.”  We are a country of incredible freedoms, and they cost a lot to maintain.

3. Raise House term limits from two years (which is mostly spent on frantic fund raising instead of making laws) to four years.  Keep the Senate term at six.

4.  Eliminate the electoral college.  This puts a nail in the coffin of gerrymandering. The popular vote should determine winners.

5.  Have federal guidelines (such as time off from work to vote)  to expand voting opportunities and minimize voter suppression.

6.  Instead of going to a polling station, encourage mail-in ballots, allotting a full month for voters to comply, and have strong oversight of the counting process.  Consider making mail-in voting mandatory.   

7.  Drastically limit the amount of political donations that individuals, corporations, and PAC's can make.  

8.  Maintain and expand media coverage of every election cycle.  Shine a bright light in dark corners without being intimidated or censored.

9.  Make civics class mandatory in high school.


Any of the above requires a major shake up in the status quo, arousing the ire of, well, the status quo, which has the most to lose.  It takes courage to fight another civil war, especially  using  brains and good-will instead of ideologies.  Does medicine, science, the arts, or fashion ever remain the same, let alone for 250 years?  The Constitution’s best chance of survival and effectiveness is not to stay the same, either.