Civic Reformers
7. Massively Parallel Roles & Tasks
Civic Reformers work to strengthen institutions in ways that promote wise and equitable problem-solving, while limiting incentives that lead to hyper-polarization and corruption. Excellent examples of such include both the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, and the Rebuild Congress Initiative, both mentioned earlier in the "democracy firster" section of the Guide, which are trying to change the way Congress does business. As Representative William Timmons, Vice Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress explained in this video, "the objective of Congress is to engage in evidence-based policy making in a collaborative manner from a position of mutual respect. We don't do that." But in its four year life span, the Select Committee issued over 200 recommendations about how Congress could be modified so as to better achieve that goal. Not all have been passed, but over 100 have been fully or partially implemented. Though the Select Committee was "sunsetted" in 2022, a new Subcommittee on Modernization, within the Committee on House Administration is continuing their work. Other civic reformers include the Rank the Vote effort to promote structural changes to our electoral system to make it less prone to favor extreme candidates and to more equitably represent moderate voters who are, in many ways, effectively disenfranchised under current rules. Other efforts include the Constitution Center's effort to "restore the guardrails of democracy," calls to reform the Insurrection Act, entitlement reform proposals, and the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers.
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