Podcast: Finding common ground: The state of our democracy

An area of intense focus for the political reform movement is our dysfunctional Congress. Such efforts as open primaries, ranked choice voting, proportional representation, anti-gerrymandering, and campaign finance reform have made fixing Congress a primary objective. As they become more widely adopted, they will improve representation legitimacy and legislative outcomes. But they may not be sufficient by themselves to deliver the quantum improvement in governance that our country desperately needs.

The time may be rapidly approaching when much more robust reforms to our democracy become feasible, even if they require amendments to the Constitution. Supermajorities of Americans now believe that fundamental structural changes to the system are necessary. They would like to hear about ideas that are totally nonpartisan; that more strongly incentivize consensus-driven outcomes responsive to the will of the people; that can galvanize an electorate ready to unleash its energy in support of rejuvenating our democracy; and that can yield meaningful results well in advance of any needed constitutional changes.