When Democrats have control over the Presidency and Congress again, we can’t squander that opportunity.
We must learn from the GOP: make the structural adjustments to the system. These ideas should be prepared and ready to pass the moment Dems get control.
Here are the main problems and adjustments I can think of. Can you think of others?
-PROBLEM: Senate is totally unrepresentative of the nation. Wyoming has same # of senators as California.
-SOLUTION: Give DC statehood. Find other blue states willing to be cut up to form new states (split California and/or New York?). None of these require constitutional amendments. But they may make it possible to get constitutional amendments passed(!). And if THAT happens we do away with the electoral college & gerrymandering.
-PROBLEM: Money in politics
-SOLUTION: federal financing of elections, maybe through “democracy vouchers,” where every citizen is given $X to spend on candidates of their choice; ban revolving door of going from gov’t straight to lobbying firms, at least for X number of years; create stipends so that ordinary people could have basic income if they chose to run for office
-PROBLEM: people have difficulty voting
-SOLUTION: federalize the voting system, at least for Congress (might be constitutionally harder with the Presidency). Drop all voter ID requirements, standardize polling stations across the nation, have paper ballot backups for everything, make election day a national holiday, have automatic voter registration, have same-day voter registration, maybe even make voting mandatory
Other thoughts? I feel like these ideas should be prepared, argued for, thought through, and readied for the moment that Dems regain power.