Voters Matter Most
The key to democracy is elevating each and every voter to a common level of influence. And Professional Politicians HATE that!
Professional Politicians are interested in keep their power for their own purposes. Whether to be a member of a political party faction, to wield influence for personal gain, or simply because they love that adulation that goes with being in the position, their goal is to stay in power.
Like all humans, the politician wants to achieve their goal at the lowest possible cost. Which means Wholesale politics over Retail politics. Wholesale means at the “Party level”; seeking influence from a political group by acting as that party’s messenger. The party then works to gather the requisite 50%+ of the vote to get their “puppet” into position.
Parties have great access to large amounts of money from special interest, businesses, and moneyed interests because political parties represent the most cost effective political influence. No special interest wants to reach out to myriad of elected officials when they can write one check and get “serviced”. So interests engage a party to support their political desires, rather than finding and contributing to many supportive campaigns. Lobbyist serve as the largest conduit of this influence and take huge fees for their efforts.
This changes the “Game” of politics from one of parties “Representing the People” to one of parties “Building a short term election cycle coalition to obtain power”. We see this in the major party themes of dividing voters and focusing on “winning” with the minimum cost rather than representing best all constituent needs and desires. Trump won by assembling the smallest quantity of votes to win with an unbalanced and uneven Electoral College (Three electoral vote in Wyoming only need 40,000 votes each, California requires 120,000 each).
Reducing votes to the effective cost of winning, by means that reduce the TRUE value of each vote to a calculus of probability cost, undermines the equal representation of citizens in the government. Citizens are left to “Pick a winner”, rather than express preference for representation. No wonder turnout has gotten so low in US elections. No wonder we are a Red vs. Blue; that makes political elections manageable for power brokers.
The practical effect is suppression of the individual, who has real financial and political limits. How can one, or a thousand, individual constituents compete for political equality with only a few hundred dollars and one vote in one district, against hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars across many districts for a single well funded special interest.
To elevate voters means to suppress and exclude special interest and non-voting entities from supporting political parties and candidates, except at the organizational level; no candidate should benefit from contributions or actions of anyone in an election EXCEPT voting constituents who have equal limits.
In a nutshell: Candidates must only accept contributions from district constituents limited to specific election cycles to a common constituent limit.
This causes two significant changes.
- Special interests will need to go to through the electorate to influence political processes and outcomes, i.e. make their case to the voters and not their dis-interested representatives.
- Neighbors will be encouraged to discuss with each other the political positions of the day allowing a nuanced set of beliefs instead of a binary divisive position.
How would you feel about politics if the elected officials looked to You instead of K-Street, You instead of Wall-Street, You instead of foreign governments, You instead of Political parties?
Imagine – you can do it if you try