Saving American Elections: A Diagnosis and Prescription for a He ...

labor union spending have been opened, contributing to a surge in interest group money, a fivefold increase over 2006, with Republican causes outspending Democratic causes more than two to one.³ This money has fueled an explosion of misleading and flat-out false claims by both Democrats and Republicans on everything from social security and the health-care and stimulus bills to the candidates’ personal lives and records.⁴

Fittingly, in the midst of all of this, satirist Jon Stewart will have a “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington, DC, with a message for people to “take it down a notch” (while his Comedy Central partner, Stephen Colbert, plans a “March to Keep Fear Alive” and “notch it up a skosh”).

With the absurdities of the media coverage, the lopsided funding, the barrage of false and misleading ads, and the expected low voter turnout, the potential for the 2010 election to be a genuine referendum on the policies of Obama and the Democrats is being lost. When all the votes are counted, politicians will claim that the public has spoken; however, less than half of the public would have voted and, given the absurd and distorted nature of the campaign, how can what “the public” said possibly be known? Such is the sad state of elections in the United States today.

The 2010 election is not unique in this failure to function as a means for citizens to make their preferences clear and to control their government. Elections in the United States have been unhealthy and in need of some serious “medical” attention for some time. Large segments of the population do not vote; public cynicism about politics, government, and the news media is high; the system of financing elections is lopsided in favor of some candidates and interests over others; most congressional and legislative campaigns are uncompetitive; the public appears ignorant of how their political system operates and of much of what goes on in it; political discourse is silly, mean, and distorted; and the media fail to provide the substantive coverage the electorate needs and fail to help the public sort through the claims and counterclaims of candidates, political parties, advocacy groups, viral emails, and even other media outlets.

Admittedly, elections in the United States have never been the picture of health—there have always been problems. Citizens were excluded