Turnout and Citizenship

We had an interesting exchange in my Media and Policy class this past Thursday night. I team-teach that class with John Mutz, who–among his numerous other distinctions–served as Indiana’s Lt. Governor. Former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm and Common Cause policy director Julia Vaughn were guest speakers. So the discussion (about the impact of money in politics) was informed–and informative.

Julia noted that Indiana ranked next to last among the states in voter turnout, according to the recent Civic Health Index, and John challenged her statement that we should be embarrassed by that low level of participation, saying it didn’t bother him.

Should it bother us? This is one of those questions where the correct response is “it depends.”

If the folks who are blowing off the political process are low-information, low-interest voters, then I agree with John that it isn’t a problem. Why should the votes of the uninformed dilute the votes of those of us who take the process seriously? If you don’t know who you support and why, then you should stay home and let more thoughtful people participate.

On the other hand, if  low turnout is due to one or more of the following reasons, we have a different problem and we need to do something about it.

We should be embarrassed if

We’ve made voting too difficult. If we’ve restricted the number of polling places, and/or limited the hours those polls are open so that voting is inconvenient for people with jobs and family obligations and actual lives, shame on us. Ditto if we’re requiring all sorts of documentation that older, poorer folks are unlikely to have.

We’ve made politics too nasty. If all voters hear are 30-second attacks on the integrity, brains and general humanity of those running for office, research suggests those voters tend to turn it all off and stay home on election day. (Some candidates will actually engage in nasty campaigning in order to evoke the “pox on both your houses” response and thus suppress turnout, if they think a larger turnout would benefit their opponent.)

We’ve made the ballot too daunting and complicated. Remind me again why we are voting for coroner, treasurer, recorder and dog-catcher? Who beside the candidates really cares who serves on township advisory boards?

We’ve failed to “connect the dots” between government policies and the reality of our daily lives, allowing voters to believe that candidates are all fungible. (Hurricane Sandy is just one example of why policies matter: if disaster relief had been turned back to state and local governments, does anyone really believe the result would have been the same for those who desperately needed help? Instead of throwing mud at each other, candidates need to make the case that their preferred policies matter, and how.)

We’ve constructed a system in which many votes really don’t matter. This is the most depressing reason of all, because it’s true. Yes, my vote for state and local offices still matters, more or less, but increasingly–thanks to gerrymandering and winner-take-all allocation of Electoral College votes–my votes for President and many other offices really don’t. (In this year’s Presidential election, those Hoosiers who vote for Obama might just as well flush those votes down the nearest toilet; Romney will win the state and take all of Indiana’s electoral college votes–even if the win is only by a point or two. A couple of states allocate their electoral votes to reflect the breakdown of the state’s popular vote–the constitution permits that–but Indiana and most others don’t.)

So–should we be embarrassed by our low turnout? Yes. If we institute changes that make voting more convenient, the ballot less daunting, the process less negative and/or fruitless and turnout is still low, then we can shrug it off and accuse the nonvoters among us of of poor citizenship. But not before.

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The Great Disconnect

As another election season comes to a (merciful) close, one lesson is abundantly clear: there is a huge disconnect between the skill sets public offices require and the sales pitches candidates are making.

In a very real sense, campaigns are job applications and the candidates are the applicants. We voters are the folks doing the hiring. In order to make informed “hires,” we need to know two things: what competencies the job requires, and which of the “applicants” is best equipped with the requisite skills and personality, in addition to our preferred policy positions.

Is this an election for Mayor, Governor or President? We need someone who understands the relevant administrative structure, who is able to assess and recruit knowledgeable technocrats and aides, who has a good grasp of economic and budgetary issues, tax policies, intergovernmental relations and the mechanics of service delivery. It is highly desirable that the applicant be aware of the competing needs and desires of the diverse constituencies to be served and have an ability to communicate with representatives of those constituencies.

Is this an election to fill a legislative seat? In addition to the skills listed above, a policy background is highly desirable—as is a demonstrated ability to work in a collegial and bipartisan way with other legislators and members of the Executive Branch.

If democratic processes are to produce satisfactory results, voters need information that allows them to match the qualifications of the candidates to the requirements of the position. Unfortunately, it is impossible to sit through the avalanche of misleading 30-second spots, scurrilous Internet postings or negative direct-mail pieces that flood our in-boxes and snail-mail boxes and not conclude that the task is impossible, and that the American electoral process is badly broken.

There is no dearth of theories about what ails us: too much money, too much rigid ideology, too much partisanship, too many lobbyists, too many pundits and too few real reporters….the list is extensive, and all of the items on that list undoubtedly contribute to the sorry state of today’s politics. But these things would matter less if the electorate were better informed. (You knew I’d harp on that, didn’t you?)

But really. Look at the spots these candidates are running.

For example, Mourdock is still airing that spot blasting Donnelly for voting to raise the debt ceiling. This political attack depends for its effectiveness on public ignorance of the difference between a vote to raise the debt ceiling and a vote to add to the national debt. Large bipartisan majorities have raised the ceiling without controversy for many years, because members of both parties have understood that difference.

As I have previously noted, the national debt is a real problem. Reasonable people can disagree about the mix of “revenue enhancements” (aka taxes) and spending cuts needed to address that problem, how much stimulus is needed to get the economy moving again, and what programs might be cut without harming our still-tenuous recovery from the Great Recession. But only someone with absolutely no understanding of the economic system advocates a reckless act that would make it impossible for the U.S. Government to pay its bills—and only an uninformed voter would respond positively to such advocacy.

More typical political attacks are variations on the theme that “Congressman (or legislator) X has been in Washington (or the Statehouse) for Y years, but we still have problem Z.” No one who understands checks and balances and the limits on what any individual member of a legislative body can accomplish is going to take such a charge seriously. The fact that political candidates believe this to be an effective argument tells us a lot about that candidate’s respect for the intelligence of the average voter.

There is another possibility, of course. It may be that these appeals are not simply cynical ploys based upon perceived public ignorance. It may be that the people who are running for office are the ones who are ignorant. They may actually believe their own arguments. In several races around the country, candidates are promising to enact policies that are clearly unconstitutional. Others are promising to achieve economic results that are mathematically impossible. Knowledgeable folks tend to discount these statements as political games candidates play, but in at least some cases, it’s clear the candidates themselves really don’t know any better.

That’s scary.

It would be nice if we could simply shrug off the more embarrassing examples of electoral dysfunction, but the quality of our political candidates ultimately affects both the voting public and the public administrators trying to serve that public.

Electing people to set policy in areas they don’t understand is a major barrier to public problem solving. If members of the House Science and Technology Committee reject evidence of global climate change (last year, one member reassured a panel of climate scientists that we don’t need to worry because after the flood, “God promised in Genesis that He would not destroy Earth again, and I believe God”), where will we find the human and fiscal resources necessary to combat global warming or reduce carbon emissions? If members of the Texas Board of Education reject evolution and choose creationist textbooks that are then adopted for use throughout the country, how do conscientious science teachers do their jobs? For that matter, where will we find the next generation of competent biologists and doctors?

There are a number of things we can do as individuals and working with others to help clean up the disaster that is our current election system. We can visit fact-checking sites to vet campaign pronouncements. We can work to reform the redistricting process. We can support measures making it easier to register and vote. We can sign on to one of the various efforts to reverse Citizens United – the case that opened the money spigot that became the gusher of SuperPac spending. Those of us who are educators can work to raise the levels of civic literacy in this country.

Meanwhile, we all need to withhold our votes from those who run campaigns based on appeals to public passions and popular ignorance.

We need to close the great disconnect.

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Heartwarming Pictures

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there have been some really heartwarming pictures and stories showing the various ways New York city residents (and others) are coping with the aftermath. They can be boiled down to one phrase: caring and sharing.

So we see pictures like the one of a house where residents have run extension cords to the street and posted a sign: “We still have power. Feel free to charge your phones.” In darkened neighborhoods, there are pictures of neighbors checking on each other, sharing flashlights and the occasional home generator, helping each other with food and blankets. My own son, whose midtown apartment never lost electrical service, has told friends to come over to “shower and power”–and tells me that many other residents of his building are doing the same. Mayor Bloomberg noted this morning that there hasn’t been a murder in the City for the past three days.

While first responders are evidently doing their usual great job, they can’t be everywhere. So New Yorkers are–as usual–depending on the kindness of neighbors and strangers. And those strangers are responding.

This should not be a surprise. New Yorkers–routinely maligned by folks who don’t like cities and fear people who don’t look like them–has a history of coping well with challenges. I recall stories from the blackout several years ago, where people who owned small restaurants opted to empty their refrigerators and cook up the contents–throwing impromptu dinner parties for passersby, choosing to do something for others rather than simply letting the food spoil.

It’s too bad it takes adversity to remind us that we are part of a human family, and we ought to act like it.

For that matter, it sometimes takes an event of this magnitude to remind us why government is important–and that, properly run, it works.

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THIS is Why Judges Shouldn’t be Elected

Several months ago, the Indiana Supreme Court had to decide a case involving homeowners who shot at police who were entering their home. It turned out that the entry was in error and the homeowners were acting in what they said was self-defense; nevertheless, the Court ruled that the use of weapons to repel the police entry was improper. [SEE BELOW FOR CORRECTED DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENED.]

You probably remember the ensuing uproar. Gun rights and “your home is your castle” purists were outraged, the legislature waded in with legislation to overturn the ruling, and a gnashing of teeth was heard throughout the land.

Now, opinionated snark that I am, I really didn’t have, as they say, a dog in that fight. I could see the logic of the reasoning that generated the opinion, and I could also understand the blowback. But here’s the thing. Judge David, who authored the decision, is up for retention this election, and the Tea Partiers are out for his blood.

There’s a reason the Founding Fathers made federal judgeships appointive rather than elective. The idea was that legislators and members of the Executive branch would have reason to respond to public sentiment–to what the Founders called “the passions of the majority.” The checks and balances of the government they were constructing needed a mechanism focused upon the rule of law–judges whose duty was to the Constitution, not the electorate. Shielding judges from electoral pressures was meant to insure that they would decide cases based upon their reading of the applicable law, rather than the electoral consequences of any particular decision.

The decision to insulate the judiciary was certainly not a guarantee that every decision would be correct. That wasn’t the point. The idea was that–freed of the need to pander to popular opinion–judges would produce decisions that were intellectually honest, that reflected their best reading of the case and the law. The judicial branch would thus act as a check on the majoritarianism of the other two branches.

When the states established their own courts, however, they didn’t always follow the federal model.

When judges are on the ballot, bad things happen. They have to raise money to run for office, and that money often comes from people who have business before the courts. (In West Virginia, a judge who had received $3 million dollars from the owner of a coal mine refused to recuse himself in a case against that owner–only when the Supreme Court stepped in did he step down.) They have to be wary of interest groups that may mobilize to defeat them if they rule in ways inimical to the desires of those groups. (In Iowa, right-wing Christian organizations were able to defeat two state Supreme Court Justices who had ruled that the Iowa Constitution required recognition of same-sex marriage.)

Even in “semi” elections like Indiana’s, where all that appears on the ballot is a retention question, asking voters to say yea or nay to the continued service of a judge makes members of the judiciary vulnerable to small but passionate interest groups like the Tea Party that’s gunning for Judge David. (No pun intended.)

Most voters have no idea what the judges have or haven’t done, whether they are competent or not, whether they are hard-working or lazy. A significant number don’t even vote on retention questions. Because that’s the case, small numbers of zealots can mount successful campaigns to defeat a judge they dislike. Once that happens in a state, even a couple of times, the result can be a judiciary too timid to rule against public opinion in controversial cases, no matter what justice and the law require.

That isn’t the system the Founders established, and it isn’t a system capable of upholding the rule of law against the passions of the mob.

NOTE: Here is Jerry Torr’s message.

“While I don’t always agree with your opinions, I do appreciate that you usually have your facts straight.  Thus I was surpised to read the opening paragraph of your blog today and your description of the case that has caused the uproar over my friend Justice David.
In the Barnes case, there were no shots fired at police – in fact there were not even any weapons involved.  Further, few actually argue that the police entry under the particular facts was in error.  The police were responding to a 9-1-1 call from Barnes’ wife, and when they arrived he was outside the apartment.  After some discussion (argument) with the responding officer, Barnes then entered the apartment and tried to close the door on the officer who was attempting to follow him in.  When the officer forced his way in, Barnes shoved him against the wall.  He was subsequently charged with battery on a police officer (as well he should have been under the circumstances).
As you know I am not a lawyer; however, it seems clear to me that the Court could easily have found that the entry was proper due to the exigent circumstances of the 9-1-1 call, and no one I know disagrees that the result was correct for the particular facts of the case.  The problem is that the majority went out of its way to go much further than it needed to in order to decide this particular case, and bascially threw out the Fourth Amendment in the process by saying that reasonable force is NEVER appropriate, under any circumstance, to prevent an illegal entry by a police officer (perhaps even if he is trying to force his way in to my home to harm or kill me because he mistakenly believes I’m having an affair with his wife).  The ruling basically turned the Fourth Amendment on its head and created a serious conflict between the Court’s ruling and the Castle Doctrine statute that we had passed just a few years earlier.  That’s why legislators felt we had to respond with statutory changes.
Again, I take no issue with your argument about appointed judges, but I was really surprised to read your description of the Barnes case in the first paragraph.  Hope you will take this in the constructive manner that it’s intended.”
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The Best Choice

Yesterday, I received an email plea from a friend’s daughter. She asked that it be widely distributed, and it is worth sharing.

I am writing to you because I am very interested in who is elected as the next Governor for the State of Indiana, and with the election just one week away, I hope I have not waited too long to speak up.

I have been disappointed on a few occasions over the last several months to hear other Democrats talk less than enthusiastically about John Gregg – not because they don’t like him, not because they don’t think he would be a great leader, not because they think he would move Indiana in the wrong direction – but because he’s not liberal enough.

We all know where we live, right?  Of course he’s not liberal – we are in Indiana!!

Debating the qualities of our candidate is not helpful at this stage in the process!  That ship has sailed.  He IS the Democratic nominee for Governor and we need to do ALL WE CAN to make sure he gets elected.

Is he perfect?  I think he IS for Indiana.  We live in a very conservative state and he is a conservative DEMOCRAT.  But more than that, he is an intelligent, articulate leader with experience working WITH Republicans and Democrats to get things accomplished – like balancing budgets, investing in public education, etc.  He understands that governing is not about US versus THEM.  It’s about all of us WORKING TOGETHER to make Indiana a better place.

The alternative, I believe,  is frightening.

Please do not allow democrats to undermine John Gregg as the Democratic nominee for Governor by talking about how you wish he was different.  The stakes are too high.  He is what he is and he is ELECTABLE in Indiana.He’s gaining momentum and has a solid chance to win if we rally behind him and help to make sure Democrats get out and support him.  His campaign will work on convincing the Independents, Undecideds and moderate Republicans that he is the right choice for Indiana – and it’s working!

 Please go forth and elect John Gregg!

Amy’s plea touched a nerve with me. John Gregg is, indeed, more conservative than I am. But I have already voted for him, and I did so with enthusiasm. I have three reasons for that enthusiasm: John Gregg, Vi Simpson and Mike Pence.

John Gregg is not an ideologue. He understands the state, understands the legislative process, and is focused on the things that are really important, like jobs and economic development. Does he have some positions on social issues with which I disagree? Yes. Is he likely to take steps to advance those positions? No. Those policies are clearly not his priorities; furthermore, the Democratic base simply will not support measures to ban same-sex marriage or to outlaw abortion. Let’s be blunt: Gregg will not take positions that are at odds with those held by the majority of his own party. ( I always try to vote for people who owe allegiance to the least dangerous constituencies.)

If you have any doubts about where Gregg’s priorities will lie, just consider Vi Simpson. Gregg chose Vi to be the candidate for Lieutenant Governor. She is one of the smartest, most principled people serving in the Senate. A true culture warrior would not have chosen Vi as a running mate–and the fact that Gregg did select her was a clear message that we can trust him to avoid the divisive social issues that motivate and consume today’s Republican candidates.

And then there’s the best reason of all to vote for John Gregg.

Mike Pence.

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