Letter to the Editor: Pulling Out of Political Malaise and Moderating Extremism – Door County Pulse
In a talk at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in early March, retired six-term Congressman Adam Kinzinger outlined the steps necessary to pull our nation out of its current political malaise. He recommended demanding in-person town halls with our members of Congress, passage of a Constitutional Amendment banning unlimited dark money in political campaigns, and revision of the primary system used to select Presidential candidates.
Current efforts to unconstitutionally expand the powers of the Presidency and mindlessly dismember federal services at home and abroad must stop. He suggests voters demand the House of Representatives stand up for its Constitutional powers and responsibility to control the purse strings of the federal government (Article I, Section 7, US Constitution) and Congress’ responsibility and authority to create, fund, and rescind federal programs and services (Article I, Section 8).
Kinzinger suggests voters demand in-person town halls through letters, phone calls to District and Washington offices, demonstrations at fundraisers, and Letters to the Editor in local newspapers. Should this fail, he recommends picketing the in-district offices of our Representative.
The current problem is not about a different party taking power in 2025. The crisis today is a result of two structural changes which took place in the last 50 years: the legal entry of unlimited, dark money in political campaigns and a revision after 1968 to the way Presidential candidates are nominated.
Kinzinger’s first structural change is straightforward: pass a Constitutional Amendment to ban unlimited and dark money in politics. The second structural change is to require ranked choice voting in primaries to generate a winner by a majority of votes cast (>50%) and elimination of the lowest choice nominees in each state. With ranked choice voting, the winner achieves a majority through the sum of first, second, and subsequent choice votes, as needed.
Judging by the political rhetoric of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, the public shares a concern with extremism. The road to moderating extremism requires reforming campaign financing to eliminate unlimited dark money and reforming the way we nominate candidates to ensure the emergence of the will of the reasonable majority.
John M. Rybski
Algoma, Wisconsin
Source: Letter to the Editor: Pulling Out of Political Malaise and Moderating Extremism – Door County Pulse
