Episode 45: Elections: Making This One Work, Making the System Work

Why does the American political system too often feel like a poorly designed video game: no matter what you do with the controller, nothing seems to change on screen. Responsiveness and the ability to effect change is pretty important to the design of virtual worlds; it’s absolutely essential in our actual real-world republic! This week an examination of the practical matters of organizing and motivating turnout, and the systemic changes are needed for a better Democracy.

1 The Politics Industry – We’ll be joined by Katherine Gehl, author of The Politics Industry (with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter ), a brilliant business analysis that refactors the political industrial system so that citizens are actually treated as stakeholders/customers, and new entrants have a chance to participate in the arena.. Using a competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes and provide an timely agenda for reform

2 Turnout! A Report From the Swing States. What’s it like on the ground motivating turnout in the middle of a pandemic, heated partisanism, and enormous stresses on voting mechanisms? We’ll speak with Sara and Roy Bahat who have road-tripped through NV, UT, CO, WY, SD, NE, and IA to Wisconsin to drive turnout in that crucial battleground state. We’ll also be joined by Lina Srivastava, a core organizer of #walkthevote, a non-partisan movement to support community leaders and voters organizing local “voting parades” to drop off absentee ballots.

3 Tik-Tokers for Biden: Reaching 150 Million followers and growing.Donald Trump dominated 2016 with Facebook like Jack Kennedy dominated 1960 with television. So whats going on today? We’ll speak with the creators of the Next Gen Politics Podcast ( 17 Year old Ari Kohn) and Tiktokers for Biden (16 year old Aiden Kohn-Murphey). How did they end up with a reach of 150,000,000 followers and why aren’t we all talking about it? The conversation across Gen Zers may be taking place in the open and under the radar. Not only is that a lot of people, but it’s also a huge swing constituency. Young people usually turn vote less than others; this is especially true of a generation that is at once idealistic and cynical. But what can we expect this year? We’re excited to connect America’s newest voters to the the Politics Industry conversation… for a lens into this election and our Future!