An op-ed published today in the Washington Post by Danielle Allen, director of Harvard University’s Safra Center for Ethics, underscores the importance of several state-ballot measures that voters will decide on in November, including the pro-transparency measures in Alaska and Oregon supported by Voters’ Right to Know:
With 2020 turnout likely to set records, this energy and engagement need to be harnessed to flip a switch on our democracy — to convert our universe’s negative equilibrium to a positive one. We should aspire to a virtuous cycle in which responsive, empowering political institutions are worthy of engagement; where engaged Americans learn more about one another, partner with one another, and rebuild the norms and guardrails that sustain democracies…
How do we flip that switch? This is where the state ballot measures come in. As colleagues and I argued in a recent report, “Our Common Purpose,” our society needs reforms that empower voters, deliver equal voice and representation, and create responsive political institutions. We need to invest in civil society organizations that can help bridge divides and in a civic media ecosystem that can fill news deserts and address disinformation. We must actively rebuild a civic culture of mutual commitment to one another and to our constitutional democracy…
In Alaska and Oregon, voters have the chance to tackle money in politics with robust disclosure laws and new limits on campaign finance. In Oregon, the proposed amendment would permit the state legislature and local governments to pass laws and ordinances to cap campaign contributions and spending; require campaigns to publicly disclose contributions and expenditures; and require that political advertisements include the identity of the people or entities that financed them.
Read the full piece here.
