Our forefathers created a beautiful system and we live in a magical country. How the hell do things get so bad? These days, just 2% of Americans trust that our elections work how they’re supposed to. Congress has an approval rating of 20%. Our leaders are locked in partisan warfare and they aren’t fixing anything. And we’re angry at the system, at each other. Our country is getting poorer, sicker, more divided, and our families are paying the price. We don’t even talk to each other anymore.
America’s political system has been hijacked to ensure those with power keep it. And for the rest of us, well, it’s not so good. I’m gonna show you exactly how today’s political system is creating the problem, exactly how we fix it, and how the solution ultimately depends on you.
This Venn diagram shows a relationship between an elected official doing what the people want and their likelihood of getting reelected. Ideally, they’d serve the people and have a high likelihood of reelection. But a recent Harvard Business School report by Professor Michael Porter and Catherine Gale show that the relationship looks more like this. They found virtually no correlation between serving the will of the people and getting reelected. In other words, if our elected leaders do their jobs, they’re more likely to lose their jobs. How is that possible? The report blames that I’m too privately held gain seeking organizations, America’s two major political parties.
In 2019, both major parties publicly threatened to blacklist candidates and contractors who veered for the party lines they control, the money, the debates, the primaries. They even draw their own voting districts. A full 61% of Americans want another option. But any third party or independent who runs is seen as a spoiler. So year after year, we choose between the lesser of two evils, Democrats, Republicans, Democrats. In any other environment, a new competitor would swoop in to better serve their constituency. You hate your cable company, here comes streaming. But the two parties have rigged the system to block competition. But it gets worse. In 86% of house races, we now know which party will win the general election before it even starts. That means all of the competition is in the primaries, where as few as 14% of voters participate, and primary voters tend to be more partisan than those who vote in the general election. So the most partisan candidates win the primary and virtually guarantee to win the general. So you can guess what happens next.
Over time, the parties move further and further apart. This graphic shows members of Congress who worked for the other party to pass a law in 1953. The gray lines represent their collaboration. The more lines you see, the more times they cross party lines to pass a law. This is how we’re looked in 67, in 81. Look what happened in 1995 and by 2011, it represents where we are today. Hard liners are rewarded. Collaboration is vilified. Congress is so gridlock that can even pass the most basic laws from prove the lives of everyday Americans.
For the first time since the Great Depression, life expectancy in the US is actually going down while it goes up in the rest of the world. We were once ranked top in the world’s education. We followed the 27th. We can afford life saving prescriptions and medical bills are forcing families into bankruptcy. Almost half of American families can’t even afford basic necessities like rents and food. What I wanna know is how do we fix it?
You know, I think I’m getting a little carried away here, so I’m gonna bring my friend Josh in while I calm down.
We need to take our government back and make it work for us. So much of what’s failing is a symptom of our failed elections. Look, this isn’t about giving power to the right or to the left or asking Congress to fix itself because frankly, they won’t. So we have to go around Congress and the good news is in the US, states run elections, even federal elections. So when we pass election laws in a state, it affects the federal elections.
And the law we need to pass, it’s called the American Anti Corruption Act. It fixes the system so government can work for you and your family, not just a handful of special interests and political insiders.
Here’s how it works. We have independent commissions draw voting districts. We make it illegal for lobbyists to donate to politicians. We give every voter a 100 dollar tax credit that they can use to support the candidate of their choice. We put reasonable term limits on elected officials. We implement rank choice voting to allow independents and third parties to run without spoiling elections. And finally, we enact secure automatic voter registration and vote from home balance. So now you’ve got more people voting and it’s easier to vote.
This is common sense stuff. It creates a Congress that’s more responsive to the people and can finally get stuff done. Look, we’ve pulled this law and it’s incredibly popular across party lines. All we have to do is pass them in states across the country. How do we do that?
Thank you, Josh. That brings us to this simple pie chart. It shows a percentage of a population required to create real and lasting change. Researchers looked at movements from all over the world and found that with 3.5% of a population actively engages in fighting for change, they win every single time in America. 3.5% is 11 million people. And it needs to be conservatives, progressive and independence together. America is roughly divided into thirds. That means no one group has the power to do it alone. And here’s the best part, millions are already involved in the movement. And together, they’ve already racked up more than 100 victories in cities and states across America. But we need millions more.
And that’s why I’m talking to you. Here’s what I need you to do right now. Go to represent dot us and sign up to be part of the next anti corruption victory in your state. There are already people near you fighting and they need your help. That’s not for you.
Then join the Commonwealth, a community of people giving whatever amount they can every month to support local anti corruption campaigns. Every single dollar goes to the frontlines of the fight, not to overhead or organizational expenses.
All I’m asking is that everyone who watches this video needs to do something. That you do something. Because you can be sure if you do, nothing is going to change. I’m here to tell you that your voice does matter. Join us.