Voting for the old normal

Greater La Conner residents are probably in the center of the surge of early Skagit County voters. Six days before election day over 50% of county residents have voted, by far a record. It is similarly likely that the percentage of registered voters casting ballots this election will be the highest in history, exceeding the 87% who came out when Barak Obama was first on the ballot in 2008.

Skagit County and our state will almost certainly choose former Vice President Joe Biden, based on historical vote counts. But no matter who wins the nation’s Electoral College, the next president will be an old white man raised in the aftermath of World War II.

Hopefully, this will be the last election from the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the next president, shaped by a lifetime in the last century, will probably not be able to extract himself from the old normal.

Climate change, a topic in last week’s presidential debate, is the simplest example. President Trump does not acknowledge it. Biden wants 30 years to get off of fossil fuels and did not have the courage to speak against fracking.

We need leadership with abundant courage and vision, both for one simple reason: There will 12 billion people walking on the planet in 2050, 50% more people than are alive today

Stumbling into a new normal politically where we not only survive but create a civilized, sustainable future means making fundamental, structural changes to the way we elect our politicians. We cannot stumble but must march forthrightly to get money out of elections.

A start that will benefit everyone is minimizing private dollar in elections. Money corrupts and unlimited money corrupts without limit. Public funding of elections will slow, though not stop, the influence of the most powerful.

We must end the legal scandal of having over $2.5 million dollars spent on the three seats in Legislative District 10, a fact of this election year.

The positions pay $56,881 annually. If only we could pay candidates that much to not run.

Imagine a future without mailboxes full of political postcards. Imagine campaign rules that require two minute radio and TV ads, at a minimum, so issues are thoroughly explained.

The top two primary election and winner take all system does not serve us well, either. Our method of electing everyone from school board to president is primitive and out of date.

Changing the structure of voting to a fairer system than first-past-the-post winner-take-all will offer representation that flattens the curve away from candidates with extreme views who win primaries with less than a majority of votes. Adopting a proportional representation voting system will recognize and elect fringe candidates who will stay on the periphery instead of having an outsized influence in primary nominations to which few pay attention and yet produce candidates that few want for their representatives.

Let a thousand candidates bloom. Among the cacophony of voices more of us will be represented while the shrill voices will get only the attention of their ardent followers.

These are not wonky, political activists only issues. Until the masses rise up in a critical mass, paying attention and demanding that their voices be heard, our political system will not change. Until football dads and soccer moms and grandparents and everyone in between start participating and embracing their ongoing role in the civics of their community there will not be change. The only way to create a more democratic society is to participate on an ongoing basis, raising our hands, our voices and our ideas and working to make them real.

These are small but significant system changes that can bring us into a new normal that is calmer, kinder and fairer. They are a necessary start, but only a start toward a sustainable future.