Ways to fix a broken, debased democracy

There is no magic formula, no single plan that could solve America’s or the UK’s democratic problems without creating worse ones, but there are plenty of ideas

ebased and de-based: That’s the condition of the American and British political systems. Corrupted, they no longer fulfil their democratic potential. They have also lost their base: The politically-engaged population from which democracy is supposed to grow. The sense of ownership has been eroded to such an extent that, for millions of Americans, Donald Trump appeared to be the best the system had to offer.

I don’t blame people for voting for him, or for Brexit: These are responses to a twisted, distrusted system. Elections captured by money, lobbyists and the media; policy convergence among the major parties, crushing real choice; the hollowing out of parliaments and other political institutions and the transfer of their powers to unaccountable bodies: There is a perfect formula for disenfranchisement and disillusion. The global rise of demagogues and outright liars suggests that a system nominally built on consent and participation is imploding.

So could we do better? Could a straighter system be fashioned from the crooked timber of humanity? This is the second of my occasional series on possible solutions to the multiple crises we confront. It explores some of the means by which democracy may be improved. Over the past few months, I’ve read dozens of proposals, some transparently awful, others pretty good. The overall result so far is this: There is no magic formula, no single plan that could solve America’s or the UK’s democratic problems without creating worse ones. But there are plenty of ideas.

The first necessary shift is a radical reform of campaign finance (political funding). The power of money in politics poisons everything – literally in some cases. I had mentioned earlier about the pollution paradox: The dirtiest companies must spend the most on politics if they are not to be regulated out of existence, so politics comes to be dominated by the dirtiest companies. It applies across the board. Banks designing dodgy financial instruments; pharmaceutical companies selling outdated drugs; gambling companies seeking to stifle controls; food companies selling obesogenic junk; retail companies exploiting their workers; accountants designing taxavoidance packages: All have an enhanced incentive to buy political space, as all, in a fair system, would find themselves under pressure. The system buckles to accommodate their demands.

My proposal to reform campaign finance is brutally simple. Every party would be entitled to charge the same small fee for membership (perhaps $50 or Dh183), which would then be matched by the state, with a fixed multiple. Any other political funding, direct or indirect, would be illegal. This would also force parties to re-engage with voters. Too expensive? Not in the least. The corruption of politics by private money costs the public hundreds of times more than a funding system for which people would pay directly.

The next crucial reform is to help voters make informed choices. Germany provides a brilliant example of how this could be done: Its federal agency for civic education publishes authoritative but accessible guides to the key political issues, organises film and theatre festivals, study tours and competitions and tries to engage with groups that turn their backs on democratic politics. It is trusted and consulted by millions.

Civic technology

Switzerland offers the best example of the next step: Its Smartvote system presents a list of policy choices with which you can agree or disagree, then compares your answers with the policies of the parties and candidates contesting the election. It produces a graphic showing whose position most closely matches your interests. There is some excellent civic technology produced by voluntary groups elsewhere (such as Democracy Club, Crowdpac and mySociety in the United Kingdom). But without the funding and capacity of the state, it struggles to reach people who are not already well informed.

Once these reforms are in place, the next step is to change the architecture. As both US presidential elections (distorted by the Electoral College system) and UK general elections (allowing a minority of the electorate to dictate to the majority) suggest, this should start with a switch to proportional representation. Ideally, in parliamentary elections, this would mix the national with the local by retaining constituency links, such as the single transferable vote or the additional member system.

Sortition can be seen as political jury service, in which citizens chosen by lot are presented with expert testimony then asked to make a decision. As an advisory tool, it could keep representative politics grounded in the real world. But people should also be aware of the dangers.

Once political funding has been reformed, ballot initiatives of the kind widely used in US states — if you gather enough signatures you can demand a vote — become a powerful political instrument, enabling people to propose legislation without waiting for their representatives (without reform they are another means by which billionaires rig the system). Referendums on huge questions, such as Britain’s membership of the European Union, suffer from an imbalance between the complexity of the issue and the simplicity of the tool. But for certain simple, especially local, issues — should a new road be built?, should a tower block be demolished? — they can enhance political transparency.

Also at the local level, a method called sociocracy could enhance democracy. This is a system designed to produce inclusive but unanimous decisions, by encouraging members of a group to keep objecting to a proposal until, between them, they produce an answer all of them can live with.

Making any of this happen — well, there’s the challenge. But change happens when we decide what we want, rather than what we think we might get. Is a functioning democracy an outrageous demand?

George Monbiot is the author of the bestselling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, as well as the investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed and No Man’s Land.