Capturing Democracy’s Surge
Stuart Comstock-Gay and Miles Rapoport, Demos
We should be inspired by the 2008 story—inspired to think hard about how to capture the transforming energy of a remarkable political year and build it into our politics over the long term. We won’t get our country right until we get our democracy right.
Democracy Ideas
- Give the Election Assistance Commission the resources and authority to set and enforce national election standards
- Recommit the Department of Justice to enforcing existing voting rights laws and ensuring that all eligible citizens can cast a meaningful vote
- Enact Election Day registration and other means of achieving universal voter registration
- Expand voting opportunities through early voting, mail-in ballots, and accessible, adequate polling places
- Grant full representation to residents of the District of Columbia
- Outlaw and penalize voter intimidation and deceptive practices
- Enact a comprehensive public financing system for federal elections
- Encourage deliberative democratic practices and active civic engagement
- Restore citizenship education to school curricula
- Establish a universal national service program linked to scholarship aid for college and occupational education
- Increase government transparency by making more information available online
- Establish a White House Office of Civic Participation to encourage collaborative governance, democratic participation, support non-profit civic participation initiatives, and lead on election reform
- Regain the public’s trust in government as a place where problems are solved
Excerpted from Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era, our shared agenda for Congress and the Administration.
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