By Barbara Slayter
On Saturday, Nov. 15, Danielle Allen, a renowned political scientist, professor, author, and activist for democracy, spoke to about 70 Lincoln residents at Bemis Hall on the topic of “Righting the Democratic Ship: Forging a Path for Positive Change.” Allen was the guest of the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee (LDTC) at a town hall open to all.
I had anticipated a presentation focusing on current dilemmas of the Democratic Party with strategies and tactics for winning a majority of seats in the U.S. Congress and even possibly capturing the presidency in 2028. No doubt Allen could have provided a host of recommendations and insights, but she chose instead to focus our attention on the big picture — our democracy with a small “d” — in which the electoral system captured by destructive party processes divides us, creates a legislature that doesn’t work, and undermines our capacities to govern ourselves effectively.
The analogy she used to describe America’s malfunctioning political institution is stark. America is like a bear with its paw caught in a trap, being attacked by hungry wolves while a wildfire is raging in the surrounding woods. The trap is our electoral system captured by party processes gone wrong. The wolves represent politicians trying to capture the bear for their own or their party’s gain. The wildfire is the turbulence fueled by globalization, technological transformation, climate change, unprecedented migration, and more.
Why can’t the bear get out of this trap? Allen asserted that the primary system for selecting candidates is at the heart of the problem. According to a recent Gallup poll, 28% of Americans consider themselves Republican, 28% Democrat, and 42% independent. In the context of gerrymandering and low voter turnout for primaries, the candidates of both our major parties are chosen by a small sliver of the population and have an incentive to appeal to their extreme positions rather than to work toward policies addressing the needs of a broad swath of citizens. In other words, 5-10% of the electorate determines the candidates during the primaries. The result is that Congress is totally polarized and can’t get anything done.
Allen offered some ideas for addressing these problems:
- Abolish party primaries and have one all-party primary in the state, and
- Lower the barriers to entry to new parties.
She noted that some states including Louisiana, California, Washington, and Alaska are already working on reforming electoral processes, such as having ranked choice voting in the first round of general primary voting. Massachusetts and Oklahoma have coalitions working on ballot initiatives to bring an all-party primary to their state with the two top vote-getters going on to the final round, she said. (Massachusetts is ranked last in democratic practices because we have the lowest primary participation and because 50% of the time there is only one person on the ballot.)
Allen urged us to get involved in this effort. In fact, she recommended that we rebalance our “democracy portfolio,” focusing not only on the candidates and issues of the upcoming elections, but also on the long-term structural problems defined as the trap — the electoral system — and how to escape it.
With that, Allen invited us all to join break-out groups with specific topics to discuss, including questions that will be on the 2026 ballot and policy initiatives that might have bipartisan support. I felt challenged by Professor Allen’s analysis of problems afflicting our beleaguered democracy and glad to be invited to think through some steps toward addressing them through reflection, debate, and analysis.
There were two other speakers as well. Kim Jalet, co-founder of Lincoln Witness, introduced this new Lincoln organization which provides information on immigration policies, as well as advocacy and support on behalf of immigrant communities facing harassment from ICE agents. Lara Sullivan, project manager for Stop Private Jet Expansion (SPJE) at Hanscom and Anywhere, spoke about efforts to protest the proposed expansion of Massport’s Hanscom Field.
For further information about Allen’s work on behalf of strengthening our democracy, both at the state and the national level, see The Renovator, a Substack for all who want to renovate America’s democracy. Allen is a founder of The Renovator.
The LDTC is planning to host two more town halls in the late winter and spring — the first focusing on immigration and due process and the second on health care policies.
Slayter, a Trapelo Road resident, is a member of the LDTC Executive Committee.
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Excellent description of Allen’s ideas about the electoral process.