March 28, 2024

How to restore trust in politics



Published May 20, 2023, 4:20 a.m. by Arrik Motley


It is no secret that trust in politics is at an all-time low. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that only 19% of Americans say they can trust the government always or most of the time. This is a stunningly low number, and it’s only getting lower.

So how can we restore trust in politics? The first step is to recognize the problem. We can’t trust what we can’t see, and right now we can’t see what our politicians are doing. We need more transparency in government, so that we can see what our elected officials are up to.

One way to increase transparency is to require politicians to disclose their financial interests. We need to know who is funding their campaigns and what interests they might have in legislation. We also need to make sure that politicians are held accountable for their actions. If they lie or cheat, they should be punished.

We can also restore trust in politics by making it more participatory. We need to give people a greater say in how their government is run. This can be done through things like referendums and recall elections. We need to make sure that people feel like they have a stake in the political process.

Finally, we need to reform the way we elect our leaders. The current system, in which a few hundred thousand people decide who our president will be, is clearly broken. We need to move to a system of ranked-choice voting, in which everyone’s vote is counted and everyone has a say.

These are just a few ideas on how to restore trust in politics. It’s up to us to make sure that our elected officials are held accountable and that we have a say in how our government is run. Only then can we hope to fix the broken system that we have today.

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democracy is facing a crisis of trust

this is a fraud on the american public

and populations are increasingly

polarized

so could the answer be to reboot an

ancient idea

we can change the nature of the

relationship between citizens and

politicians

shirley islam is helping to shape the

future of scotland

from her garden in glasgow she is part

of a radical but simple project

which brings ordinary people closer to

the political decision-making process

shirley is a member of a citizens

assembly

a group of around a hundred people

picked at random but designed to be a

cross section of scottish society

the help of experts and facilitators the

group is tasked with discussing pressing

issues

and passing their recommendations onto

the scottish government

the main aim is to come up with a vision

statement

to make scotland better first of all the

conversation guidelines

so you will all have a copy of those

brought to your table

that's something to think about when

thinking about how you can redesign and

improve the scottish tax system

members have met in person four times

since 2019

and are now gathering online during the

pandemic

so far they've considered reform of drug

laws and taxing wealth

to create a greener economy we as a

country want to try out a new way of

doing politics

doing things differently through

informed and respectful dialogue

citizens assemblies are part of what is

known as deliberative democracy

matthew taylor is a leading global

advocate he has advised two former

british prime ministers

and he argues this kind of political

engagement

could be the key to reversing the

decline of trust in politicians

the fundamental issue of trust is only

going to be overcome if we can change

the nature

of the relationship between citizens and

politicians

i'm being heard i actually do have an

avenue

to ask the right questions that are

important

to make scotland better the way in which

deliberation

increases the confidence of its

participants increases their respect for

people with different opinions and tends

to make them feel

more responsible for making sure the

world is a better place these are

wonderful

characteristics and a million miles away

from representative democracy that tends

to make people feel

more disempowered more angry and less

sympathetic to people who have to make

difficult decisions

such gatherings could be an antidote to

the increasingly polarized political

climate

the adversarial nature of representative

democracy

politicians shouting at each other

caricaturing each other dodgy dave will

answer it

now evading questions

pandering to their own increasingly

unrepresentative grassroots

it's ugly

if you look at a deliberative process a

process in which ordinary citizens are

sitting around

a table listening to each other properly

facilitated

openly questioning their starting point

going on a journey reaching a different

view

and nearly always being able to find

consensus it's a process that makes us

feel good

about ourselves many people feel they

have little influence in the political

process

deliberative democracy could give voters

an edge

our job effectively is once every four

or five years

to vote in an election to kick the

rascals out if we think that they

should be kicked out and then we retreat

back into our daily lives and wait for

the next time we're asked to come and

vote

that's a very passive role for a citizen

and what citizens need

more of is more voice in between

elections

citizens assemblies are nothing new

they're an ancient greek idea

coming back into vogue over the past 10

years

the oecd has recorded a notable increase

in the number of deliberative processes

among member countries and the eu

and there is evidence that this is

succeeding in giving people more

influence over policies made by

politicians

of 55 cases analyzed by the oecd

three-quarters of public authorities

implemented over half of the

recommendations made by citizens

in just over a third of cases they

implemented all of them

the issues that you will discuss in over

the coming months

are beyond party politics

one country is often cited as the poster

child of this democratic innovation

in politics island's widely acclaimed

citizens assembly on abortion

legislation

formed in 2016 is considered to have

helped

its largely catholic citizens find

common ground on a highly polarizing

issue

after hearing from 25 experts and

reviewing 300 submissions from members

of the public and interest groups

87 of people on the assembly agreed

island's abortion laws were unfit

the government subsequently agreed to

the recommendation of a national

referendum

two-thirds of the electorate voted in

favor of abortion rights

[Applause]

the citizens assembly held the hands of

the politicians

galvanized them encouraged them because

what politicians admitted to was

they were listening to the voice of

ordinary informed ordinary citizens

and if that was what ordinary citizens

felt needed to be done

then they were prepared to go down that

road too yet citizens assemblies

are not a silver bullet for troubled

liberal democracies

some processes have been criticized for

not fairly representing the population

at large

and the biggest challenge to more

meaningful change in future

remains the reluctance of politicians to

embrace this model of democracy on a

broader scale

advocates say that unless politicians

actually accept the idea of

relinquishing some more powers

there is a risk of further public

disenchantment

when i worked in government i tried to

convince

tony blair and then gordon brown's team

to do it

and i had initially enthusiasm for it

until the point at which i pointed out

to them they couldn't control the

outcome of the process

i think when politicians hear about

deliberation they often think it's about

them giving up power

i'd say to them the biggest constraint

on your power as a ruling politician

right now

is the public doesn't trust you actually

deliberation will give you

more power because real power lies in

having citizens on board

[Applause]

this is only going to really shift the

dial if

politicians demonstrate over and over

again that these

processes do have an influence on the

policy outcomes

i hope we've reached a stage of a kind

of tipping point now where the question

is not

will deliberative democracy become a

more

intrinsic part of our democratic systems

but when and how

[Music]

hi i'm emma hogan deputy briefings

editor at the economist

if you'd like to learn more about

citizens assemblies then please click

the link to my article opposite

and if you'd like to watch more now on

next series then please click the other

link

thank you very much for watching and

please don't forget to subscribe

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