Our Democracy is Broken. Let’s Fix It.

The Democrats and the Republicans have failed us. Here’s what we can do to loosen their grip on our country.

2016 was a disaster on the Presidential level. The two major parties managed to nominate the two most disliked candidates since modern polling began. Down-ticket was not much better. It’s hard to find someone who represents the people and not big donors. The major parties do not deserve the power they have been entrusted with.

Our mission is to make sure that the best candidates make it onto the ballot, even if the Big Two Parties’ donors do not want them there.

Since the playing field is tilted so strongly towards political parties on most states, to disrupt the status quo, we urgently need to form a new political party. Since that is no small undertaking, everything about this new party is designed, judo-style, to maximally disrupt the two oligopoly parties with minimal resources. Ideally, only one volunteer per state should be required to get the party off the ground. For lack of a better name I’m calling this the Open Party.

To eliminate the need to recruit massive numbers of people to fill all the positions up for election, all candidates from every other party’s primaries will be on the Open Party ballot, along with any candidate that chooses just to run on the Open Party ballot. This effectively uses one of the major parties’ greatest strengths — their large number of candidates — against them.

There are some interesting consequences that come from this approach. It makes it possible for the same candidate to be nominated by both the Open Party and some other party. In most states this isn’t allowed, so if the winner rejects the nomination or has to step down, the nomination goes to the person with the second most votes, and so on.

It’s entirely possible for this system to lead to someone who got the most votes in some other party’s primaries running against a primary opponent that makes it to the general through the Open Party. This will help to eliminate the party’s role as gatekeeper.

It will come as no surprise that all Open Party primaries are open. There are a huge number of independent voters who deserve a voice in the primaries. Closed primaries are self-defeating for any party, but they are totally incompatible with the Open Party’s purposes. For that reason, if it’s possible to have a party in a state without voters being able to register as a member, voters will not have the option to be able to register as Open Party.

In states where government-run primary elections are available, affordable, and consistent with local and national Open Party rules, they will be used. Otherwise, a privately run in-person voting primary is preferable, but if it’s infeasible, internet primaries are acceptable.

The Open Party is run by voters, not insiders. All platform planks and party rule changes must be approved by primary ballot. To maximize participation by people of all idealogical stripes, platform planks must only be about election mechanics and funding for the first eight years.

We can’t continue to let a handful of party elites and big donors chose whom we get to vote for. We have to fix this. If this idea excites you, leave a response here with your ideas. Let me know if you’re willing to work to make the Open Party a reality in your state!