In 1790, Constitutional author and Supreme Court Justice James Wilson called free and equal elections “the original fountain” from which all of democracy flows. He warned if that fountain is poisoned, all branches of government would suffer gravely.
Today, gerrymandering—the reshaping of districts to give one party an outsized advantage—has proven Wilson right in ways he never imagined. “Safe” contests where money controls the electoral process create extreme representatives responsible for the toxic dysfunction we see today.
It starts with a repurposing of our political committee system, which is our infrastructure for delivering elections. FEC regulations govern how committees can handle money. Unfortunately, financial incentives inherent in the system motivates career politicians to represent their party over their constituents. A paradigm shift, combined with technology and statistics, allows the same committee system to restore democracy as the Framers intended.