Can we fix our democracy? A better question is: What plans are there to fix it? I’ve been looking into this for four years. Whether you believe PeopleCount’s plan is credible or not, I’ve seen no other credible plans.

There are a number of plans to fix our democracy besides PeopleCount’s. They all involve changing American laws.

GOOOH: New representatives to fix our democracy

One of these is Get Out of Our House (GOOOH). They are trying to get “citizen politicians” to run instead of the “professional ones” who seem to perpetuate the gridlock. Their plan is to recruit good candidates and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund winning campaigns. (A winning campaigns usually cost at least $1.5 million.)

GOOOH is trying to form groups of hundreds or thousands of voters in each district. Each group will work together to pick one of them as the candidate. And these candidates will pledge to represent all the people, and more. See the “How will GOOOH candidates be different” question of their FAQ.

A Brand New Congress to fix our democracy

Another one is Brand New Congress (BNC). Their plan is for their candidates to support campaign-finance reform and other progressive efforts that majorities of Americans support.

They’re not forming a new party, but they have a specific platform. The second-to-last bullet point on their Goal page says they’ll champion a number of laws to remove corruption and the power of the wealthy in elections.

BNC is trying to save money by having one campaign for all of their targeted 400 candidates. I’m not sure how much they can save. One of the highest costs in a campaign is outreach. They’ll still need ads that give each candidate name recognition. Perhaps by buying ads in bulk, they can get better prices.

Why these plans may not work

These plans are challenging. First, they require getting a lot of people together and raising a lot of money. Many have tried this. It has been tried in every election and hasn’t been accomplished yet.

Second, there will be opposition. The democrats are increasingly supporting the kinds of changes needed. But not all democrats are on board. Lots of corporations donate to democrats and they’re at best conflicted about losing that money.

The Republican party isopposed to taking money out of politics. They oppose it on “freedom of speech” grounds.

These are not reasons to be discouraged. We call it “fighting the good fight.” And about 3/4 of Americans want campaign finance limits. Plus even more want other anti-corruption laws.

They’re good plans, but not guaranteed

So these are laudable efforts, but we shouldn’t count on them succeeding.

Also, notice that they don’t fundamentally change the system- they just try to limit the corruption. They don’t give ordinary Americans an increased voice in politics outside of elections.

In the next article, we’ll look at other plans to fix our democracy.