Stop the Slide

Each year the non-profit Fund for Peace publishes a Fragile States Index that rates the stability of nations as measured in four categories: cohesion, economic, political, and social. Although the United States retained a “very stable” rank in the 2020 report, its status has steadily eroded since the Index began in 2006, thanks to a buffet of worsening indicators that include “factionalized elites” (which leads to fragmentation and gridlock) and “state legitimacy” (which manifests in distrust of institutions and processes). We should understand that unless the US makes dramatic changes it will continue on a downward trajectory, and eventually become not just fragile but broken, entirely incapable of confronting its growing list of pressing problems.

To slow our decline will be hard, I admit, but three steps are worth considering. First is to end what Edward Foley calls the “pernicious practice” of partisan gerrymandering. Instead, independent citizen commissions should establish legislative boundaries (some states already do this). Next is to reduce the undue influence of wealthy individuals and corporations on elections and policies. A promising option here is the Brennan Center’s recommendation for small donor public financing of campaigns. Last is to see the average American voter as failing the Jeffersonian requirement for an electorate that “can be trusted with their own government.” Sadly, ample evidence demonstrates that many of us who vote are irrational and ill informed.

There is a cost for voter incompetence, which brings me to the virtues of an “epistocracy,” or government by the knowledgeable. Jason Brennan’s book Against Democracy points out that an epistocratic system can assume many forms: for instance, give every citizen one vote, and then award extra votes to those who pass a test of basic civics literacy; or grant the right to vote only to citizens who can pass such a test. Whatever the form and despite the challenges, we now need the knowers to stop America’s slide.