CORRUPTION IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT?

This TED Talk opened my eyes to the situation that our government is in. Before watching this video, I did not pay much attention to what was happening in our government.       

                       (Lessig)                       

As Lawrence Lessig describes in his lecture, our government is dependent on investors. These investors choose who runs in the general election and who the public will get to vote on. In addition to the investors, Congress spends a great amount of time trying to get their own party in power. To get their party in power, Congress must get money from investors. In order to keep that flow of money from an investor steady, Congress must change their views to conform to the investors.   

In simpler terms, the reforms past are not for the public's interest but rather for the investors. Of the American population, only about 0.5% is an investor meaning that the smallest proportion of the public can block reform. And the only solution to fix this corruption is to get the public involved.

 

How Corrupt Are Different US Institutions And Groups in Society? 

You may be wondering why the public is the one responsible for fixing corruption of the government. 

Well, with corruption in the government, no reforms will happen that the public is pushing for, such as environmental reforms, because the small investors funding the government are not interested in problems such as those, but only reforms that benefit them. People need to gain the courage to stand up for what is right. 

But there is one problem. Many people are scared to stand up because they fear retaliation, shows a survey conducted by Transparency International. Many different people have different solutions to combat corruption and Lessig's idea seems like the best starting point for our country. 

Lawrence Lessig's solution is to have the public push for Congress to spend less time raising money that is being funded by a larger percentage of Americans. As a starting point to fix the government this would be good, but we also need to stop have investors as the only source for reform policies. 

In my opinion, just because someone doesn't have enough money to donate to Congress, doesn't mean their opinions and reform ideas are less valid. Those people, and frankly all Americans, should get a say in reform policies without having to pay large sums of money. 

Works Cited

"Corruption in the USA: The difference a year makes." Transparency International

     , 17 Dec. 2017 , www.transparency.org/news/feature/

     corruption_in_the_usa_the_difference_a_year_makes. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.

"How Corrupt Are Different US Institutions and Groups in Society? -US 2017 ."

     Transparency International, Transparency International , 12 Dec. 2017,

     www.transparency.org/news/feature/

     corruption_in_the_usa_the_difference_a_year_makes. Accessed 21 Nov. 2019.

     Chart.

Lessig, Lawrence. "We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim ." TED , Feb.

     2013, Longbeach, California . Address.

ENCOURAGING THE PUBLIC TO PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS

Some propose to make Election Day the same day as Veteran’s Day. According to Jill Lepore for Politico, “... moving Election Day to Veterans Day, November 11, would honor the sacrifices of veterans; it would remind Americans that voting is a national duty, an obligation both to one another and to the nation; and it would strengthen American democratic political culture, by way of new rituals and traditions.” Combining the two days would be more efficient for businesses, schools, and any public place, but is it the right thing to do? I argue that moving Election Day to the same day as Veteran’s Day is disrespecting veterans and what they have done for this country. In my opinion, it would cause more of a problem for the two days to be combined. People who are serving or have served in the military should be given their day of recognition without it being overshadowed by the chaos of voting.  

Veterans 

A more reasonable solution would be to make Election Day a national holiday. This would allow most adults to not have to attend their job that day, allowing them to go out and vote without feeling like there's much of a time constraint. On the other hand, making Election Day a national holiday would affect schools and businesses who are already suffering from a lack of staff due to the holiday season. To me, this seems like a reasonable sacrifice considering the legitimacy of getting as many citizens to vote as possible.   

Others propose that same-day registration would be a good way to encourage citizens to start voting. As stated by Virginia Kase for Politico, “It’s proven to boost voter participation and makes registration deadlines unnecessary. SDR is also a great fix for Election Day problems. For voters who move, find themselves purged, or turn up on Election Day and run into other issues, they can still participate with same-day registration.” Same-day registration would allow citizens who had unexpected events occur still be able to participate in elections. In my opinion, this sounds like a good start to encouraging citizens to vote. With an easier and more efficient process for registering, more people are likely to go out and vote. 

Graph of US States with Same-Day Voter Registration 

Since 2016, a total of 21 states have enacted same-day registration for voters. Out of the 21 states, two states have not allowed for same-day registration to happen on election day for presidential candidates. If more states would enact SDR, I believe that the number of people voting in presidential and local elections would increase substantially. With an influx of new voters, statistically, there is diversity between people's votes. This would reflect more of the public's opinion, as a whole, to the election. 

More policies for encouraging citizens to vote will not necessarily increase the number of voters, but same-day registration will make it easier for new voters to participate in an election when they were not completely prepared for it. In comparison to moving Election Day to Veteran’s Day, I see same-day registration as the best policy proposed currently to fix the participation of citizens in elections. 

Works Cited

Graph of US States with Same-Day Voter Registration . Business Insider , Insider

     Inc. , 8 Nov. 2016 , www.businessinsider.com/

     11-states-with-same-day-voter-registration-2016-11. Accessed 12 Nov. 2019.  

Kase, Virginia. "Same-Day Voter Registration." Politico, Politico LLC , 2019 ,

     www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/participation/

     same-day-voter-registration/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2019. 

Lepore, Jill. "Move Voting to Veterans Day." Politico, Politico LLC , 2019,

     www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/participation/

     move-elections-to-veterans-day/ . Accessed 12 Nov. 2019. 

"Same Day Voter Registration." National Conference of State Legislatures,

     National Conference of State Legislatures , 28 June 2019, www.ncsl.org/

     research/elections-and-campaigns/same-day-registration.aspx. Accessed 14

     Nov. 2019.  

Veterans . KBIA , 28 Apr. 2014 , www.kbia.org/post/

     new-shelter-proposed-combat-homelessness-among-veterans#stream/0. Accessed

     12 Nov. 2019.