Integrity is much better in sports than in politics. Let’s look at why. This will be the first of four articles looking at changing the game of politics, especially with Congress.

A friend of mine wrote on Facebook (slightly edited):

– – Right now, the Warriors are playing Oklahoma City. They are in the Playoffs. .. I hope they go to the Finals, but right now, they’re in the Playoffs.
– – You don’t get to the Finals by having temper tantrums and declaring yourself the winner. You don’t get to the Finals by convincing the public you deserve it or it’s your turn. The Warriors will get to the Finals if and only if they beat Oklahoma City fair and square.

– – God help us if the NBA has more integrity than the DNC.

 

There’s more integrity in sports

I think it’s pretty obvious there’s more integrity in sports than in politics. In sports, they promise to play their best game and win. When they lose, they’ve broken their word. Yet they still honor their word. They admit they tried hard to win, but they lost. They start looking at how they could train harder or play better or smarter. They’re committed and devoted. And their bonuses are tied to their performance.

Politics is messy

In politics, it’s hard to tell what they’re doing. It looks to me like they’re vying for power instead of representing the people. It looks to me like they’re authoring sound bites and raising funds to try and convince constituents rather than listening to them. It looks to me like they’re trying to make each other wrong instead of trying to work out solutions.

And how do they win? 90% of campaigns that raise the most money win. And mostly, those are incumbents. Other than that, it seems to be based on the party prejudices of the electorate.

 It’s time to design the political game

What if politics could be redesigned? What if it could be redesigned to be accountable?

Accountability is a relationship. If politicians were accountable to citizens, then citizens would be like an employer or a teacher:

• Citizens would guide politicians
• Citizens would expect results
• Citizens would ask for reports
• Politicians would report progress and plans- perhaps monthly
• Citizens would grade them

What if we designed a system to deliver this? Would you play? Please say yes and add your name to our announcement list.

In the next article, we’ll look at some specific comparisons between sports and politics.