Full Presentation: A Non-Partisan Initiative of Harvard Business School Alumni and Other Concerned Americans available below.
Key takeaways from the presentation are highlighted below:
We are Lagging Behind because Our Political System is Broken
Bipartisanship has disappeared.
Moderates have disappeared.
Competitive swing districts have been reduced
Most elections are non-competitive
Parties have become polarized
Big Money dominates elections
Turnout is extremely low
Voters have lost faith in government.
Our democratic capitalist system works because new competitors enter industries and promote change.
Ford disrupted the horse & buggy.
IBM disrupted the adding machine.
Oil, then natural gas, then solar and wind are constantly disrupting the energy industry.
Amazon disrupted the book seller and internet shopping industries
Every industry has had new entrants except one– the Politics Industry.
The last successful new entrant in the Politics Industry was the Republican Party in 1854.
For 165 years, there have been no successful challenges to either of the two political parties.
In the words of Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter,
“The politics industry is different from virtually all other industries in the economy because the participants, themselves, control the rules of competition.”
Despite the problems, our system can be fixed if we can:
Create Fairer Election Districts by Minimizing Gerrymandering.
Increase turnout by eliminating voting restrictions in primaries.
Support Emerging Voting Systems that will lead to less polarization and mudslinging, and more bipartisanship.
Remove Restrictions for Popular Candidates to Run.
Create Secure Voting Systems that make it easy for registered voters to participate and minimize the risk of hacking.
Control money from dark pools and special interest groups, that seek to influence elections for their own ends.
This and other "Reform Elections Now" presentations available here.