American democracy is broken. Let's fix it.

81% of Americans believe America is "on the wrong track." 60% of Americans think the political debate in Washington does not represent the concerns raised in their own community. Only 13% of Americans say they have confidence in Congress (Time Magazine, Harris Interactive). This is what a broken democracy looks like.

Here are 3 major issues I think we need to address:

Campaign finance
In the 2008 congressional elections, 93% of the winning candidates spent more money on their campaign than their opponents. Meanwhile, only 0.08% of the US population is responsible for over 66% of all campaign donations (Center for Responsive Politics).

Our politicians -- Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike -- are profoundly aware their political survival depends on securing the most campaign funding. What we have is an electoral system in place that gives our politicians huge incentive to represent the interests of a tiny pool of wealthy donors above 99.92% of America.

Let's fix it: End or dramatically limit private campaign contributions. Currently, a person can donate about $43,000 a year to support their preferred candidate and party. We should demand our politicians set this limit to a level all Americans can be expected to afford, say, no more than $100 a year. Otherwise, we need to do away with private funding altogether and convert to a publicly funded system, which would give all eligible candidates the same amount of campaign funding.

The 'Revolving Door' When a politician or government regulator leaves office to take a position as a lobbyist, or for a company they were previously in charge of regulating, they move through what is called the revolving door. This process presents our officials with incentive to bootlick for companies and special interest groups while in office,  with the understanding that they will receive an extremely lucrative position with one of these companies or groups after they leave office. According to Legistorm, nearly 5,400 congressional staffers have gone through the revolving door in the past decade.

Let's fix it: Support a bill like Colorado Senator Michael Bennett's, which would institute a 6 year ban on lobbying by congressional staff after leaving our government, and a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress.

American voting format
Al Gore would have defeated George W. Bush in the 2000 election had Ralph Nader not run for president. A majority of Americans wanted a liberal president in 2000, but Bush won because Nader -- a candidate with no conceivable chance of winning -- absorbed many of Gore’s would-be votes.

We've all heard the expression "don't vote independent, you'll just throw your vote away." But the truth is far more troublesome than that. As evidenced by the Gore/Bush presidential election, voting independent is actually a vote for your least preferred candidate.

Let's fix it: Instead of our current "one person, one vote" system, which promotes the Democrat/Republican bipartisan stranglehold on our democracy, demand our government start using an approval-based voting system, which allows you to vote for multiple candidates.

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