10 - Democracy in the United States, 2020 and Beyond

Summary

“Democracy 2020” expresses the idea of a decade-long initiative to design and implement an electoral process of which our nation can be proud in time for the presidential election that year. The objective is not to rush a half-baked reform for 2012 or even 2016, but to take a decade to do it right. It would be a nice gift to the children born in the year of Bush v. Gore, the dawn of the new century, as it will be the first year in which they are eligible to vote in a presidential election.

At first, a decade seemed enough time for major reform. “If we can put a man on the moon in a decade…” was how the thinking went. But now I believe that we should strategize in two stages. The year 2020 should still be a target for significant “mid-range” reform, and we should develop a process that uses the time until then to maximum feasible effect. Yet we should also recognize what is not feasible in a ten-year timeframe, and defer for a later date – and an even more ambitious agenda – truly long-term reforms that would take a quarter-century or longer to develop.

DEMOCRACY 2000–2008: A RETROSPECTIVE

What has our nation accomplished since 2000 in terms of electoral reform, and what can we realistically expect to accomplish by 2020?

The answer to this question is quite sobering.