To restore America’s confidence in our elections and our government, it’s imperative that we change the way we do politics.
The good news is that Congress has returned to Washington with Democrats and Republicans alike in a welcome spirit of bipartisanship. Contrary to what many might think, most Democrats and Republicans get along just fine on a personal level; however, we need to change the system for that goodwill to be realized–because good governance means getting things done comes first.
The question is–how do we transform the idea of bipartisanship into reality, and put an end to the gridlock and partisanship?
First, we need to rid our elections of the enormous amounts of outside, special interest money that fuel negative campaign ads the candidates cannot legally influence or control. These ads are polluting our airwaves, degrading our candidates, corrupting our public policy and diluting confidence in our government.
Moreover, the proliferation of outside money drives lawmakers to spend far too much time raising their own money to counter all the false charges and distortions– with little time left to actually govern and address the serious challenges America faces.
And second, we need to return Congress to a system we call “Regular Order”–working five full days a week just like other people who have full-time jobs. Instead of raising money on the people’s dime and time–which I refuse to do–Congress should be using the subcommittee and committee process to debate every bill, idea and amendment, and accord each one an up or down vote.
That process promotes bipartisanship as we meet together, working out differences and finding points of agreement.
To that end, I have introduced the Restore Democracy Act –a blueprint to rid our campaigns of outside money, establish a new system of public-small donor financing, limit the length of campaigns, ban fundraising while Congress is in session, encourage voter participation, end political “gerrymandering” of congressional districts, and put Congress back to work on the people’s business.
Make no mistake. Reform won’t be quick or easy, but our democracy and the integrity of our political process demand that we keep driving forward until we get the job done.
Rick Nolan
Member of Congress
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