The Essential Elements of a Healthy and Sustainable Democracy.
Empowered Citizens: Citizens must be engaged, informed, and have their rights protected to participate effectively in the democratic process.
Fair Processes: Elections, legislatures, and policymaking institutions must follow accepted rules, have checks and balances, transparency, and independence from undue influence.
Responsive Policy: Government policies should weigh all citizens’ interests equally, provide for the common good, and establish institutions that protect individual rights.
Information and Communication: Access to accurate, trusted, and representative information and opportunities for public discourse are crucial for an informed citizenry.
Social Cohesion: A shared sense of purpose and identity, embodied in the phrase “we the people,” is implicit in a democratic society.
Civic Virtues: Qualities like humility, honesty, courage, temperance, charity, and faith in democracy itself help citizens uphold democratic norms.
Equality: All citizens must be treated equally, without discrimination, and have equal access to rights and the ability to participate.
Accountability: Politicians must be accountable to the people, act consistently with their will, and face consequences for abuse of power.
None of this is possible as long as:
• Money/greed has a role in choosing our political leaders – We need publicly funded elections.
• All votes are equal – the Electoral College has to be abolished.
There are other changes that need to take place, but they all flow from these two root causes.
If these two things don’t change, American Democracy will not survive.
Proud Navy Veteran 
Well said….but I hope you’re wrong.
I don’t see the changes we need happening.
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I agree on both, unfortunately.
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Thank you for this. I am 75 years old (almost 76), and I began my crusade against the Electoral College when I was in the ninth grade. I was assigned, as part of a debate in school, to investigate the origins of the EC, and debate against its existence. It was established when: (1) only white, literate, land-owning men could vote; (2) no convenient communication system existed in this country; (3) the population was minuscule, when compared to today; and (4) it was a compromise between slave-owning and non-slave-owning states when the Constitution viewed slaves as 3/5 of a person (hence, the population count was lower in the large slave-owning states). People in my family have heard me rail about the EC for more than six decades. I wrote letters to the editor, to the president, to my members of Congress, my senators, you name it. Of course, they all scoffed at me. Back then, I couldn’t vote until I was 21. I was useless to them, vote-wise, so why pay attention to what I have to say? It will take a Constitutional amendment to eliminate the EC, and none of the spineless GOP will ever vote for that. And how many of the Trump-supporters want that, anyway? It’s the felon’s only chance to win.
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It would take a constitutional amendment to change the EC, however, changing the basis of its calculations would not.
I believe the first step is to change the calculation and make it obsolete. After a few years of obsolescence, a constitutional amendment becomes much more likely.
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