The Politics Industry

Everyone has their opinion about what's broken in our political system. Not everyone can offer a clear, practical, achievable path toward improvement; of those who do, few can document their recommendations with hard data and historical context.

Gehl and Porter waste not a word on Citizens United nor right-wing propaganda channels nor social media. Perhaps they see those battles as unwinnable? More likely, since they're both economically minded, they prefer to focus on the best ROI. Which, as they see it, is: (1) changing the Primary system to be open and nonpartisan, in which the Top Five (or Four) vote getters are guaranteed a place on the electoral ballot, then (2) Ranked Choice Voting in actual elections.

Will it work? I don't know, obviously: I'm just a cog. There's reason to be optimistic, though: California has had a watered-down version for some years and has seen great results. Alaska just recently (November 2020) passed Four-Way primaries (which of course the two-party system will do everything in their power to try to undo); and Maine voters have sent a big fuck-you to the parties who have been trying to nullify the voters' RCV decision in 2016. IMO anything that both parties fear so much has to have a lot going for it.

The book itself: a tad long, and uncomfortably breezy/chatty at times. I couldn't figure out if they were writing for a scholarly audience, for politicians, or for lay people. I learned some history, paused often to reflect; and even if I'm not 100% sold, I'm sold enough to make efforts toward this goal. I'll be talking to some people I know.

(If you're interested: I recommend starting by listening to the Freakonomics podcast. If watching videos is more your thing, Gehl and Porter have some video links on their web site. If you'd like to borrow my copy, just ask).