Here’s how Biden could make a real effort to ‘fix democracy’

As the dust settles from the midterms, President Biden must lead Americans, and the political class, from politicking to governing. To reset the tone in a partially-reconfigured Washington, this veteran golfer should take a mulligan — actually two — issuing a third call to save American democracy. This time, however, the president’s speech should be presidential: bipartisan, self-critical and solution-oriented.

In September, Biden’s remarks in Philadelphia “on the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation,” degenerated into a partisan stump speech. When a president tries to “fix democracy,” it is best to avoid boasting about all the laws you’ve passed or hope to pass. All that chest-thumping aimed at blue-state voters drowned out Biden’s supposed red-white-and-blue appeals.

Two months later, in Washington, Biden was more subtle but still far from Lincolnesque, showing malice toward some. His critique of the “alarming rise in the number” of Americans “condoning political violence,” should have included some Democrats. Without making false comparisons, he should have condemned the looting that occurred after the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He should have acknowledged that Democrats, too, occasionally have resisted election results — although without Donald Trump’s destructiveness.

We don’t need some cheap Sister Souljah moment, calling out your party’s extremists to appear moderate. Relationships cannot heal without both sides showing humility and taking responsibility. Even if the progressive Twitter-verse objects, American democracy won’t “heal” if the only way to “save democracy” is to vote Democratic.  

Biden should channel America’s leaders to govern in a way that strengthens democracy. Just as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States studied the 9/11 attacks to prevent future attacks, a high-level, bipartisan commission should tackle the central challenge straining America’s 245-year-old democratic republic: our loss of faith in the electoral process.

Critics, on the left and the right, agree that voting, the most fundamental act of American democracy, is broken. In October 2020, weeks before Trump unleashed his unrelenting attacks on his electoral loss, Gallup reported: “Confidence in Accuracy of U.S. Election Matches Record Low.” Only 59 percent polled were confident the presidential vote would be counted accurately. Two years later, merely 63 percent are confident — and only 40 percent of Republicans trust the system. Healthy democracies need great confidence in their elections.

True, partisans see the problem differently. Democrats fear that many eligible Americans don’t count as voters; Trumpian Republicans fear that many eligible votes aren’t counted. Yet never have so many Americans voted — and voted so easily. The 2020 election turnout of 66.8 percent was the highest since 1900, with a record-setting 160 million votes cast. And 94 percent of respondents found voting “very easy” or “somewhat easy.”

Similarly, Trump couldn’t invalidate the 2020 results because election counts have never been more accurate. Historians have difficulty proving past frauds, because tricksters are tricky. The infamous 1888 election reflects the old norm. That year, the Republican National Committee’s treasurer, W.W. Dudley, was outed instructing Indiana’s county chairmen to organize “floaters” — bribed voters — in “blocks of five,” supervised by loyal lieutenants.

Fortunately, most Americans agree: They want to vote freely and have every vote counted accurately. That shared aspiration could lead to compromise. No patriot wants Americans to lose faith in our democracy.

This nonpartisan, “blue-ribbon commission” should coordinate with all 50 governors, because most election laws are local. The commission should review the eligibility requirements, voting procedures, and vote-counting protocols nationwide, while learning from other democracies too.

Beyond identifying the best practices, the commission should be prescriptive. Hard-knuckled sessions with Republicans and Democrats should yield specific guardrails, do’s and don’ts regarding the lead-up to Election Day, on Election Day itself, and during the count — which, as we see once again, takes too long.

Today, complaining about voting stirs the Republican and Democratic bases. Beyond forgoing this political “red meat,” each party must compromise, understanding the damage this fight is doing to Americans’ faith in themselves, let alone the world’s faith in American democracy.

In the 1800 presidential contest, Aaron Burr initially tied Thomas Jefferson because the original Constitution did not distinguish between votes for presidents and their running mates. In endorsing the 12th Amendment fixing this flaw, Sen. Thomas Pickering of Massachusetts challenged the demagogues, wondering if some were “afraid this amendment will also increase” the Constitution’s “stability and, in that way, prevent and destroy” their attempts to divide America.

These midterm elections confirmed that most Americans want stability and not chaos. Most seek bridge-builders, not barn-burners; problem-solvers, not pot-stirrers. Odes to liberty, democracy and American history are lovely, but only taking full responsibility for where we have gone wrong — and brainstorming about how we can go forward together — will ultimately solve the real problem: Our loss of faith in our institutions reflects our loss of faith in one another.

Gil Troy is a professor, Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, and American presidential historian who has written nine books, including “See How They Ran: The Changing Role of the Presidential Candidate” and “The Age of Clinton: America in the Nineties.” Follow him on Twitter @GilTroy.