The Angry Voter and How to Change Government
Today’s Angry Voter is the result of political inertia and an astounding lack of accountability. While pundits and DIY political consultants debate the stunning outcome of the presidential election, the real cause of the erosion of our democracy remains undercover.
The most ardent supporters of Donald Trump strongly agree on the assumption that they voted for a leader that will produce results. They are starving for change and the resolution of problems that seem to simmer on for years, immigration, economy, terrorism. Their votes were meant to kick-start a government that they see as ineffective, misguided and corrupt. They feel far removed from having any effect on the establishment politicians, so they voted for an outsider to tear through the bureaucracy and move the rusted wheels of government. They will be disappointed.
Our government was founded on principles that have been lost to byzantine regulation and a culture of celebrity politicians. There are very few examples of innovation or unexpected gains on government objectives. Business sector innovation has increased productivity by leaps and bounds over the past decades but government rarely has an increase in productivity. Politicians make excuses and get re-elected even though they have little to show for the work done during their terms and they use the same rhetoric over and over again to get people to vote for them as they become insulated from middle-class America.
Politicians choose to be elected royalty and use their position as a way to advance their personal agendas more than governing objectives. Because they are decision makers over government budgets, they command exclusivity and learn to leverage their time to create an illusion of scarcity so that special interests value an audience with them. The combination of a disconnect from regular Americans and the cult of celebrity for elected officials creates a huge incentive to operate in a world where results don’t have much consequence, but drama and vitriol pay handsomely.
Regular American workers must document their time through time-sheets and time cards to justify payroll expenditures. They must document the value of the time spent and the results of that work time. Rarely do businesses pay employees without some demonstration of the value produced by an individual. This is a basic fact of American working life.
The anger of the American people is created because of the distance between desired results and the action produced by elected officials. They use their royal elected positions to avoid the basic fact that you must work hard and produce results if you wish to have a paycheck .A prime example is how a budget is crafted in American government. There should be a transparent process to allocate government resources to various public benefits. The real process is a toxic stew of horse-trading and backroom deals that are usually consummated late at night on the eve of a budget deadline. The final results appear out of no-where and surprise most people with the disjointed structure of a budget built from the personal agendas of politicians instead of a deliberate rational process.
If our nation is to survive and return to a unified civility that reflects the founding father’s intentions, then elected officials must reject the trappings of royalty and embrace transparency.
There is a basic value that the Tea Party missed, and now Indivisible is also glossing over the same thing as they immerse themselves in self-congratulatory pats on the back that feel good and get attention, but accomplish very little. For all the bluster and angst brought on by the Tea Party movement, very little has been accomplished since their start in 2009. The basic concept of accountability has escaped both groups. Even Mark Zuckerberg’s “Social Infrastructure” for Facebook misses the point and suggests that more connectedness on its own will change our political environment.
Elected leaders can restore faith in our democracy by taking a few simple steps to increase transparency and accountability:
- Campaign with a business plan for their elected term with intentions, goals and measurable benchmarks that voters can evaluate to decide who gets their support. This specific plan should replace the meaningless bumper sticker slogans so voters choose a plan of action and not just vague “promises” that have no achievable results.
- Publish their calendars so voters can see that they are getting a days worth of work for a days worth of pay. A schedule that matches the benchmarks that they committed to in their business plan for the election. This also shows how time is spent and who gets the elected officials attention.
- Solve problems through innovation so the productivity curve of government institutions increases at a faster rate and begins to match the productivity gains of business. This requires more trial and error in policy decisions and less empty political rhetoric.