Since the start of this year, I’ve been making the case that it’s time to renovate our democracy. But the very idea presumes several things. These include: (1) that constitutional democracy is good for human beings; (2) that we should want to keep and improve the one we’ve got; (3) that long-term work on the health of our democracy is worthwhile even as we face the near-term stress of a pretty unpalatable upcoming presidential election; and (4) that change is possible.

Why isn’t the democracy we have fine the way it is? The constitutional democracy set up in the 18th century started from the idea that power could be reserved to some (mainly White, male holders of property, with some exceptions) while nonetheless being deployed for the good of all. This proposition is false. The only way to ensure that a political system serves the good of all is to ensure that power is shared by all. We’re still learning how to build a political system that genuinely supports fully inclusive power-sharing.

What is democracy renovation? Democracy renovation is made up of two things: (a) reconnecting people to civic service, civic collaboration, civic engagement, and their civic power and responsibility; and (b) reforming our political institutions and civic infrastructure so that people have the tools they need to be responsible and effective citizens — and politicians have the incentives they need to deliver responsive and accountable representation.

What is democracy renovation? Democracy renovation is made up of two things: (a) reconnecting people to civic service, civic collaboration, civic engagement, and their civic power and responsibility; and (b) reforming our political institutions and civic infrastructure so that people have the tools they need to be responsible and effective citizens — and politicians have the incentives they need to deliver responsive and accountable representation.

Is democracy renovation partisan? No, but it is cross-partisan. Any stable democracy must have a supermajority of citizens who are willing to invest time, talent and treasure in the healthy operation of the system itself, and that supermajority will necessarily span ideological divisions. The supermajority has to work together on democracy renovation to ensure that we have a stable system for contesting matters of substantive policy. This part we inevitably do along partisan lines. A core proposition of democracy is that continuous contestation of substantive policy enables us to discover solutions to our hard challenges over time.

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