Let's put issues, not people, on the ballot
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Credit: AP/Patrick Semansky
Jaws dropped and huzzahs resounded when Sen. Joe Manchin announced he and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had agreed on legislation to fight climate change, reform prescription drug pricing, and make corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
The celebratory urge is understandable. It’s difficult to get anything done in Washington, and Manchin is a mercurial partner. That it followed by mere hours the long-awaited passage of a bill to subsidize the making of computer chips in the U.S. felt miraculous.
It shouldn’t.
These four issues poll extremely high among Americans. Addressing any of them should have been easy. Yet it was a Sisyphean ordeal to get them over the finish line — and the bill that bundles three of them isn’t there yet.
To be fair, the disconnect between what citizens should expect from their government and what they get isn’t just a Manchin problem. It is a people problem, if by people we mean lawmakers.
Ask yourself:
How many legislators campaign from one place on the ideological spectrum and then move left or right once in office so you don’t really know their true convictions? How many are interested only in performative politics and never write actual legislation? How many see their prime goal as blocking the other party from getting anything done? How many are so beholden to big donors and special interests that they won’t take on issues that deeply affect their constituents?
We don't help. We cheer our side when they troll the other side, then wonder why the two can’t get together to negotiate bills.
But maybe the problem isn’t so much the people we elect, as that we elect people at all and give them that power.
Perhaps we should be electing ideas.
Perhaps we should put ideas on the ballot.
Yes, politicians mouth that already. They love to say abortion is on the ballot. Climate change is on the ballot. Voting rights are on the ballot. Public safety is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Pick-your-issue is on the ballot.
Not really, though, as experience as shown. Politicians are fickle, dysfunction deep-rooted. And most issues that are on the ballot were on the ballot the last election and will be on the ballot in the election to come.
If we want action on matters where we share common ground, let’s really put universal background checks and paid family leave and prescription drug pricing on the ballot. And if they pass muster with regular Americans, then Congress has to pass them, too.
Set metrics to get it done. If a proposal gets 85% support or more, Congress has three months to pass a bill to make it happen. If it gets 70-85%, six months; 55-70%, a year. If it draws 45-55%, meaning the country is somewhat split, it goes on the next ballot and our representatives can make their case for yea or nay to the people. Less than 45% support, it goes away until enough people get on board.
Give the system some teeth. Amend the Constitution so that any member of Congress blocking a bill from passage within the time frame is fired — barred from running next time around for nullifying the will of the people.
Wiser heads than mine can construct a workable system, something akin to state referendum processes with fewer roadblocks to putting a plebiscite before the people.
Roughly 90% of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases. About 80% want prescription drug pricing reform and paid family leave. Two-thirds say the federal government should do more to fight climate change. The list is long.
The people know what they want. Let's get it done.
Columnist Michael Dobie's opinions are his own.
Michael Dobie is a retired member of the Newsday editorial board.
