The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Frank Knapp Jr. directs Business for Democracy, a campaign of the American Sustainable Business Network. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Immediately after the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, we heard Republicans and Democrats calling for a change in campaign rhetoric.
While the shooting might or might not have been politically motivated, concern has been growing about violence being inspired by overheated, aggressive comments from those running for office.
Heated, hostile political rhetoric that is abusive and denigrating of opponents — even promoting violence — has consequences. We all should know that by now.
So, how do we return to civility in political campaigns and avoid violence?
Yes, there are calls for campaigning and governing based on common interests, respect and stopping the demonization of others. I suspect that most politicians would privately agree with this.
However, calls for lowering the temperature in campaigns alone won’t deliver us the civility we want. To move the needle, we need to understand and change what drives the negativity.
The problem lies with the election system of primaries and general elections that dictates how most politicians pursue victory. Solving the problem of strident, divisive political rhetoric will require election system reform.
The problem starts at the beginning of the pursuit of winning office. Only about 20 percent of eligible voters participated in one party’s primary or the other in 2022. So, it is relatively easy for those who are motivated by hate of the other side to dominate a primary election.
The primary winners must preach what their voter base wants to hear. Even if they personally want to rise above negativity, represent all constituents and be respectful even to those who didn’t vote for them, they can’t if they want a political future that requires them to win the next primary.
So, how do we change the election process to encourage politicking and governing for the common interest with respect for all and no demonization?
Change the election system that dictates the campaigning and governing that we don’t want. Open primaries, which increase voter participation, and ranked-choice voting deliver needed election reform.
Let all candidates who want to move on to the general election be on one primary ballot and let everyone vote in that open primary.
The top four or five vote-getters (selected by how many votes they receive or by using ranked-choice voting) advance to the general election in which ranked-choice voting is used to determine the consensus winner. If there are not four or five candidates, eliminate the primary.
The ranked-choice voting system can encourage listening to all interests, being respectful and offering a policy that addresses the common interests of voters. I believe open primaries and ranked-choice voting are our best hope for instilling political civility.
For this election system change to be adopted, voters nationwide must demand it and do so quickly.
Some cities, counties and states successfully use one or both of these election methods, thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteers. Others will be voting on these reforms this November.
Making change is hard. Often, political parties and those in power use the same campaign scare tactics and demonization they employ to get elected in their opposition to the needed reform.
Maybe the horrific attack on Trump will result in the electorate rising up and demanding the change that will deliver civility back to our politics, as our democracy requires.
