A Political “Overview Effect”

Updated November 18, 2016. Originally written before the election, this piece has been revised to reflect the election of Donald Trump.

During his year in space, Scott Kelly took some amazing and humbling shots of our lonely blue marble — like the one above — as it spun and hurled its way through the blackness of space. In contemplating the earth from so high above, many astronauts over the years have described the common and profound awakening they experience as an overview effect. A kind of mass realization that the earth is finite and suspended within the brutal emptiness of space by a delicate balance of force and energy.

In contemplation of the earth from the perspective of the Voyager spacecraft as it neared the edge of our solar system, the great Carl Sagan famously noted that

every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

In this contentious and emotional election year, we could really use a political overview effect. Listening to the increasingly intense rhetoric throughout and now following this election, it is hard not to fear for the worst. The political system clearly broke down, and nothing else was quite ready to fill the massive void.

So what what happens now? Just under half of voters decided against electing a lifetime politician who — though experienced — was very much beholden to the old political order. Instead they elected an entirely inexperienced magnate who — though clearly unbeholden —displays clinical signs of a personality disorder whenever someone questions his ability to lead the most powerful nation on the planet.

This really is a disaster not because Trump won, but because the alternative to Trump was not good enough. We have all been told to never shout “fire” in a crowded theater, but if the theater is actually on fire, you still need to calmly announce the fire and instruct everyone to move quickly and safely towards the exits. Yet, if both exits are blocked, where were we supposed to go?

The reality is that we need not panic about the presidency, because it is up to Congress to hold the president accountable. In the end, nearly half of the America that bothered to vote made a choice, and now all the rest have to live with that choice. There really isn’t any going back (okay maybe there is, but I’ll let Larry make that case). The real focus now should be on how we go forward. How do we have a Government that is accountable to not just half, not just the elites, but to all of us?

If there ever were such a thing as a political overview effect, it would be to launch every American to a point in space overlooking the United States — like the view below — and tell them:

This is us. This is every single home in America, every individual working to earn a living and every child learning to follow in our footsteps. This is our only nation. There is no other. There are no do-overs. We only get one chance to get it right.

Make it count.

To get it right, we need only accept two truths: 1) The fundamental operation of government is no longer accountable to the people, and 2) When voting is unified, we still have the ultimate power for holding government accountable.

There are a huge number of ways for campaign funders, lobbyists, and political insiders, to hold Washington accountable, but there is only one way left, for citizens. We have to vote not as two sides in opposition, but as one voice together.

On November 8th, we most certainly did not vote together. For more than 94 percent of eligible voters in America, Donald Trump was not their first choice. Most Americans either voted for someone else during the primaries or did not vote at all. That means that only six percent of adults are ultimately responsible for Trump, and six percent is about as far from democracy as you can get. Re-electing 97 percent of House incumbents is not sending any messages either.

As we take a step back from this election and reflect, the solution is not to become even more divisive. The solution is to figure out how the hell we come together to fix this once and for all, because the current system clearly is not working for all of us.

At EqualCitizens.US we have been looking for the opportunity to develop a process that will allow people to speak constructively and specifically about the reforms that will strike most at the root of our political problems. With the help of expert communities, we believe that we can craft our own legislation in way that clearly explains the solutions so that they can be approved by all of us. Legislation the can be passed immediately and with consequence if Congress should choose to stand in its way.

While the next election might seem far off, the reality is that democracy reform is the only path to restoring a government held accountable to us. Until this busted system that lets a tiny fraction determine our leaders, no other problem will ever be solved to our benefit.

This is our only nation. There is no other. There is no do-over. We only get one chance to get it right.

Start helping now, by showing your interest here.

Bruce Skarin is the co-founder of EqualCitizens.US, a nonpartisan project to crowdsource democracy reforms.