5 steps to fix American democracy

The pathetic 36% voter turnout in the recent midterm elections – the lowest turnout in more than seven decades — is not just a sign of voter indifference, but a growing crisis of legitimacy of American democracy. The bumper sticker “Don’t Vote! It Only Encourages Them!” was initially a stab at levity. Now it is more a cri du coeur.

Which is why the next Congress is important in ways that no-one has yet raised. It may be a tipping point for democracy itself.

Leading Republicans want to convert Congress from its lame duck status to a completely dead duck. Rush Limbaugh says Republicans weren’t elected “to make Congress work. They weren’t sent there to get along.” Instead, Limbaugh argues, their mandate is “to stop Barack Obama. Republicans were not elected to govern.” The National Review says that the GOP’s priority should not be helping solve the many public policy issues that challenge the country. Instead, Republican politicians should concentrate on creating a propitious climate for electing a Republican president in 2016.

The American political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset wrote that legitimacy is “the capacity of a political system to engender and maintain the belief that existing political institutions are the most appropriate and proper ones for the society.” But because of the chronic crisis in Washington, citizens, especially young people, are turning to other ways to achieve change or they are just giving up. We need to listen to them, such as the 34 million members of avaaz.org who are organizing to solve problems in society outside of the democratic process. They are trying to tell us that democracy as they know it is not an appropriate institution.

Articulated 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln’s vision of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” has become risible to many. They think the US political system is systemically dysfunctional and deeply corrupt.

Hopefully more thoughtful Republicans like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner will want Congress to get things done over the next two years, and help ameliorate the crisis. But we need more than changes to politics. It’s time to reinvent the democratic process itself.

The first era of democracy created representative institutions, but with weak mandates, passive citizens and politicians beholden to powerful funders and special interests. It was only a matter of time before such a model ran its course.

We need to replace this old model with a new era of participatory democracy built around five principles:

1. Integrity. To rebuild the public’s trust in political institutions, elected officials need to embrace integrity – which is honesty and consideration. Honest politicians establish trusting relationships with voters, politicians need to be open and fairly disclose information. They must be truthful, accurate, and complete in communications.

Considerate officials don’t cause traffic jams for those who disagree with them. They don’t spy on their citizens and undermine their basic right to privacy. They don’t use negative attack ads. Politicians know full well that negative advertising is toxic to democracy, poisons reasoned political debate and dumbs down the discussion.

2. Accountability to the electorate. We need to divorce politicians from relying on big money. US citizens thought they had a system that limited big donations, but the right-leaning Supreme Court didn’t want to impede wealthy donors from influence elections. In the odious Citizens United case, the court gave free rein to deep-pocketed PACs. Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig is right that we need to adopt the policies of other countries that place strict controls on campaign financing.
3. Interdependence. Elected officials need to recognize that the public, private sector and civil society all have a role to play in sustaining a healthy society. As Jeffrey Sachs has argued there is a price to civilization and we need strong, good government. When politicians say the best role of government is “to get out of the way,” they are shirking their responsibilities.
4. Engagement with citizens. We need on-going mechanisms for government to benefit from the wisdom and insight that a nation can collectively offer. Using the Net, citizens can become involved, learn from each other, take responsibility for their communities and country, learn from and influence elected officials and vice versa. It is now possible to have a 3-day “digital brainstorm” with the entire electorate of a country. Challenges, participatory budgeting, electronic town halls, have all proven effective in turning voters into participants in democracy.
5. Transparency. Almost everything should be done in the full light of day. Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and the internet is the perfect vehicle to achieve this. Transparency is critical to trust. The question “What are they hiding?” encapsulates the relationship between transparency and trust. It implies that if government leaders hold secrets, they do so for a nefarious reason and therefore are un-deserving of trust. Citizens know that the fewer secrets leaders keep, the more likely they will be trusted. Transparency, even radical transparency is becoming central to building trust between stakeholders and their institutions.

To restore legitimacy and trust we need a second era of democracy based on integrity and accountability, and with stronger, more open institutions, active citizen citizenship and a culture of public discourse and participation.

Author: Don Tapscott is Adjunct Professor of Management, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Image: The United States Capitol Dome is seen before dawn in Washington March 22, 2013. REUTERS/Gary Cameron