Restoring majority rule: the basics

Here's a succinct summary (gift) from Jamelle Bouie of the structural impediments that we live with. My emphasis.

The United States will always have a conservative party, but American democracy needs that party to be committed to the maintenance of our democratic institutions. The only way to plot a path from here to there is to forcibly change the incentives within the Republican Party, which is to say, the only way to break the fever is to change the rules of the game. A more democratic American democracy — where majorities elect and majorities rule — would force the Republican Party to try, once again, to compete for national majorities.

The reforms are straightforward.

• End the Electoral College and move to a national popular vote, possibly by embracing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

• End partisan gerrymandering and experiment with forms of voting that might enable more party competition, like fusion, which would let two or more parties nominate the same candidate for office.

• End the filibuster and pass a new, more robust Voting Rights Act.

• Grant D.C. statehood in accordance with the wishes of the majority of its residents.

• And pursue reform of the entire federal judiciary, so that the Supreme Court, which has been too happy to help Republican entrench minority rule in the states, cannot take an ax to this agenda.

If the aim of both the Democratic Party and its allies is to protect and defend American democracy, then it cannot avoid a confrontation with those aspects of the American system that enabled the Republican spiral into nihilism. If Democrats win control of Washington in November, they should make reforming our democracy a priority, since even without Trump, the sickness in the Republican Party will remain. It will take strong medicine to save the patient. Democrats must be prepared to administer the cure.

Getting rid of the unbalanced disaster that is the Electoral College is really hard. But much of this is possible with ordinary electoral majorities, including adding DC as a state, ending the filibuster, and national procedural voting reforms. 

So -- we need to win the critical Senate elections, especially Jon Tester in Montana and Sherrod Brown in Ohio. Their states will go Republican, but these Democrats can continue to break through.

We need to win a majority in the House of Representatives -- should be possible with a lot of good candidates and lots of work.

And we need to elect Harris-Walz. Again, should be possible.