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Amanda Litman of Run for Something wants to know if the presidential candidates will support the introduction of the vote by ranking vote in the federal elections and will also commit to ensure a complete representation in Congress of 4 million Americans – a total almost equal to our six smaller states – living in territories without voting members of Congress.
Ari Berman, the well-known vote-writer and Mother Jones journalist, notes that half of the country's states have passed new laws making voting more difficult – aimed at removing votes from democrat-like constituencies such as youth and the color voters. He would like to see the candidates discuss their plans to ensure that each eligible voter can exercise his right to vote in 2020.
One Virginia's Brian Cannon 2021 wonders what the Democrats will do as they make major breakthroughs in state legislatures before the 2020 round. Will they use this power to protect themselves or to repair the system? in place?
They offered us good questions. But, of course, there are many others: "Would you support public funding of the elections?" "Do you support the creation of independent redistricting commissions?" "How are you going? you make sure our elections are protected from outside piracy? "
It's time to talk about democracy. These questions – and the answers they would solicit – are essential for the public if they wish to vote knowingly in the presidential primaries. However, if recent history is a guide, the moderators of tonight's Democratic debate will again not ask any questions about our broken democracy and what candidates are planning to do about it.
Candidates themselves now have to ask that the subject be treated. Otherwise, there is little reason to believe that the networks will change course.
The good news is that there is a precedent: Reform politicians could simply borrow a page from the campaign of former presidential candidate Jay Inslee.
The governor of Washington has dedicated his entire candidacy to the presidential election to raise the issue of climate change – a subject that, like democracy, has been studied extensively on the national scene. Inslee has focused its attention on climate change and has partnered with organizations such as the Sunrise Movement to request coverage of the debate – which she has won, as well as a city hall on the CNN climate.
Although far from the climate debate – which the National Democratic Committee has strangely refused to sanction – the city hall has been an important step forward in finally taking climate change seriously and a significant departure from the few minutes of climate coverage of previous debates. Many experts even declared Inslee winner of the evening: Without his plea, nothing of this debate would have been possible.
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, another former candidate, has attempted this strategy on a smaller scale for democracy. She used the first debate, not invited by the moderators, to explain this point: "Until you go to the root of corruption, money in politics, the fact that Washington is headed by special interests, "explained the New York Senator," you will never solve any of these problems.
In an electoral cycle marked by candidates for innovative and bold democratic reforms, Gillibrand's key solution has been a public funding system in which every voter receives up to $ 600 worth of democracy bonds to give to candidates Eligible Federal. As part of this policy, people without wealth would be able to band together politically and financially to match even the richest of us. And those who do not have the financial means normally required to run for the elections could also present themselves without hesitation, an important step towards the diversification of the Congress.
Gillibrand highlighted this public funding plan several times during the debate. In trying to convey its transformative impact, it linked our structural problems to Washington's stalemate. She said that if the bill becomes law, "we can guarantee health care as a right, not a privilege. We can deal with institutional racism. We can tackle the income inequality and corporate corruption that drives Washington. "
Many in the democratic field recognize and frequently speak of the importance of pro-democracy policies. What is needed, however, is a candidate who will vehemently discuss a reform of democracy, even without discussion on the stage of the debate, and will discuss solutions aggressively to prove to Americans that fighting for reform is far from hopeless.
The same goes for this person who has to challenge the networks to cover the subject and criticize them if they do not do it – which nobody has done in a serious way yet.
A commitment to raise the reform of democracy does not necessarily have to overshadow an entire campaign. Candidates for reform do not have to embody Inslee's single problem model. But with three top ranked candidates and only five polls consistently above 5%, it would be a national service for someone to raise the democracy movement and foster that conversation.
Of course, ABC News can easily choose to hold this discussion tonight. We just give them the questions to do it.
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