• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up

Perry Waag

    FollowUnfollowFollowing
    Big Picture

    Political love in the time of Covid

    Perry Waag
    April 07, 2020
    American currency

    "After the public health emergency subsides, the need for political reform philanthropy will be even greater — but the job of raising the money will be harder," writes Perry Waag.

    ricardoreitmeyer/Getty Images

    Waag is a former volunteer coordinator for the multifaceted democracy reform group Unite America and is treasurer of a group promoting a switch to ranked-choice voting in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla.

    Before this global coronavirus pandemic and its resulting American economic suffocation, political philanthropy to fix and reform both our elections and our governmental institutions was already severely lacking but very much needed.

    The entire democracy reform movement, with more than 130 organizations, raises approximately $150 million in contributions every year. The two major parties raise a combined $4 billion from their donors every year — in other words, more than 25 times as much. That's a lot of Davids not even coming close to two very big Goliaths.

    In other words, before the arrival of Covid-19 changed almost everything about daily life in our country, almost everyone — wealthy individuals, big businesses and small-dollar donors — was continuing to double down on the two tired old parties, in spite of so many of their gripes and complaints about the failings of political life under the duopoly.

    Keep ReadingShow less
    coronavirus

    Join an Upcoming Event

    View All Events
    Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
    Follow
    Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
    Follow
    Contributors

    Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

    Layla Zaidane

    Two technology balancing acts

    Dave Anderson

    Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

    Jeremy Gruber

    Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

    Kevin Johnson

    Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

    Christine Todd Whitman

    Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

    Henry Santana
    Jerren Chang
    latest News

    Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

    Our Staff
    4h

    Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

    Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
    4h

    Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

    Alexander Vanderklipp
    16 March

    Seven Days in March

    Lawrence Goldstone
    16 March

    Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

    Our Staff
    16 March

    Something is horribly, horribly wrong

    Debilyn Molineaux
    15 March
    Videos

    Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

    Our Staff

    Video: What would happen if Trump was a third-party candidate in 2024?

    Our Staff

    Video: How the Federal Reserve is the shadow branch of the government

    Our Staff

    Video: 2023 National Week of Conversation

    Our Staff

    Video: Bipartisan lunch with lawmakers: Making elections work better in PA

    Our Staff

    Video: Antisemitism and its impacts

    Our Staff
    Podcasts

    Podcast: A tricky dance

    Our Staff
    14 March

    Podcast: Kevin, Tucker and wokism, oh my!

    Debilyn Molineaux
    David Riordan
    13 March

    Podcast: Civic learning amid the culture wars

    Our Staff
    13 March

    Podcast: Winning legislative majorities

    Our Staff
    09 March
    Recommended
    Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

    Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

    Your Take
    Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

    Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

    Big Picture
    Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

    Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

    Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

    Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

    Judicial
    Seven Days in March

    Seven Days in March

    Threats to democracy
    Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

    Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

    Congress