Saying our political system is broken is not a novel idea. Whether it’s the unlimited amount of money corporate interests can spend on our elections, the endless cycle of gerrymandering, or the divisive political polarization that has seeped into every corner of our society and culture, trust in government is at an all-time low, and Americans are tired of the inaction.
The real question is: what do we do about it?
It’s time we take government reform seriously. It may not sound sexy, but we can’t make progress on healthcare, climate change, housing affordability, or anything else until we make government responsive to people’s needs.
So what does real reform look like? It starts with getting big money out of politics. That means overturning Citizens United and ending the loophole that lets corporate interests spend hundreds of millions of dollars to elect their preferred candidate.
It means ending gerrymandering for good. Independent redistricting commissions have already worked in states like California, Michigan, and Colorado, taking the map-drawing pen away from the very politicians who benefit from the lines they draw. There’s no reason this can’t be the norm everywhere, not the exception.
We also need to look hard at how we vote. Ranked-choice voting, open primaries, automatic voter registration, and making Election Day a holiday are not radical ideas; they’re common-sense reforms that make it easier for people to participate in the political process. When only a small, hyper-partisan sliver of the electorate turns out for primaries, we shouldn’t be surprised that our choices in November feel so limited.
None of this is a silver bullet. Fixing our political system won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen through one bill or one election cycle. It will take sustained pressure from voters who understand that this isn’t a side issue; it’s the foundational issue that determines whether we can make progress on everything else we care about.
The good news is that the appetite for change is there. A vast majority of Americans, across party lines, agree that money in politics is a problem and that gerrymandering is unfair. The question isn’t whether people want reform; it’s whether we can build the political will to demand it and the coalitions to deliver it. That work starts now, one conversation, one campaign, and one election at a time.