Monster Eats Itself

Yesterday an interesting thing happened, where disenfranchised folks walked right up into the US capitol after Donald Trump told them to do so. They weren’t welcome there, and a few people ended up dead in the scuffles, and a lot of people were mad for a variety of reasons.

There were a few really interesting things that happened in the aftermath which I felt like writing about. Or rather, there were things that didn’t happen. Things people weren’t saying spoke more about the problem than what they were saying.

I was watching the politicians give their self congratulatory speeches live on C-SPAN after the whole thing was resolved, and I couldn’t help but notice how absurd the whole thing seemed.

Failure to Acknowledge Systemic Failure #

I think the most important theme from yesterday was the complete rejection of the idea that the US government itself is experiencing a profound institutional crisis. It’s easy to blame Trump or whatever, but few of the politicians are willing to acknowledge the deeper structural problems within American democracy.

When you have more than 70 million people voting to elect someone who many consider clearly unfit to be in charge of a nuclear arsenal, I think it’s evidence that something fundamental isn’t working in the system.

Trump is a symptom, not the cause. He emerged from conditions that were decades in the making: eroding civic education, increasing economic inequality, the collapse of local journalism, the rise of partisan media ecosystems, and the inability of existing institutions to address the genuine grievances of millions of Americans.

Beyond Labels: Understanding the Breakdown #

I get that what the Capitol protesters did wasn’t right, but simplistic labels like “mob,” “rioters,” or “terrorists” don’t help us understand what’s happening.

Democracies require that citizens believe several things:

1. That their voice matters
2. That the system is fundamentally fair
3. That peaceful transfers of power are normal and expected
4. That opponents are legitimate, even when wrong

When large segments of the population stop believing these things—whether due to misinformation, genuine flaws in the system, or a combination of both—democratic breakdown becomes possible.

What we witnessed was the predictable result of a system that has failed to evolve with changing conditions and failed to maintain the fundamental trust of millions of citizens. Politicians have indeed enjoyed few consequences for their actions, and institutions have repeatedly failed to reform themselves when necessary.

The Case for Constitutional Reform #

The US constitution was a remarkable document for its time—a pioneering experiment in self-government. But it was written for an agrarian society of fewer than 4 million people, before the industrial revolution, before mass communication, before globalization.

The last substantive constitutional amendment was ratified in 1971 (lowering the voting age to 18). For context, this was:

• Before the internet
• Before climate change was widely understood
• Before the modern polarization of political parties
• Before Citizens United and the flood of money into politics
• Before the extreme concentration of media ownership

Other successful democracies regularly update their constitutional frameworks. The average constitution worldwide lasts about 19 years before significant revision. The US is a dramatic outlier in this regard.

Here are some potential reforms worth considering:

• Electoral reform: Eliminating the electoral college or modifying it to better reflect the popular will
• Voting standardization: Creating uniform federal standards for elections to ensure equal access
• Ending gerrymandering: Independent redistricting commissions in all states
• Ranked-choice voting: Allowing voters to express preferences among multiple candidates
• Proportional representation: Moving beyond winner-take-all districts to ensure diverse voices are heard
• Executive branch reform: Limiting presidential powers and strengthening checks and balances
• Expanding representation: Increasing the House of Representatives to better reflect population growth since 1929
• Direct democracy mechanisms: Allowing citizens to vote directly on certain issues through initiatives and referendums
• Accountability measures: Creating clearer connections between politicians’ actions and consequences

The Climate Crisis: Democratic Failure at Scale #

The climate crisis represents perhaps the ultimate test of our democratic institutions—a complex, long-term, existential challenge that our current systems seem ill-equipped to address.

The inability to take meaningful action on climate isn’t just a policy failure; it’s an institutional failure. Our governance structures struggle with:

• Long-term planning beyond election cycles
• Managing complex scientific information
• Balancing current economic interests against future needs
• Coordinating international action on global problems

These same institutional weaknesses hamper our ability to solve other pressing problems: inequality, healthcare access, infrastructure decay, and more.

From Spectacle to Substance #

Watching politicians deliver grand speeches while their colleagues scroll through their phones encapsulates the performance nature of much modern politics. The focus is often on appealing sound bites rather than substantive governance.

The path forward requires less political theater and more meaningful reform:

1. Civic renewal: Rebuilding civic education and shared understanding of democratic principles
2. Institutional modernization: Updating governance structures for 21st century challenges
3. Information ecosystem repair: Addressing misinformation while preserving free speech
4. Economic inclusion: Ensuring the benefits of growth are widely shared
5. Democratic innovation: Experimenting with new forms of citizen participation and deliberation

A Difficult Path Forward #

I worry that we may have reached a point where reform within the existing system is extraordinarily difficult. The mechanisms for constitutional amendment are themselves products of the system they would need to change.

However, throughout American history, periods of crisis have sometimes created opportunities for renewal. The Civil War led to the Reconstruction Amendments. The Great Depression brought the New Deal. The civil rights movement reshaped American society.

Perhaps this moment of crisis can be transformed into an opportunity for meaningful democratic renewal—if enough citizens demand it and work for it through both traditional and innovative channels.

What’s clear is that business as usual isn’t working. Pretending that our democratic challenges can be solved simply by electing different people or tweaking policies within the existing framework ignores the scale of the institutional crisis we face.

The work of democratic reform isn’t just about partisan victories or defeats—it’s about creating governance systems capable of addressing the unprecedented challenges of the 21st century. Without that reform, we risk continuing cycles of dysfunction, polarization, and declining trust.

Thanks for Reading #

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for engaging with these ideas. I believe the first step toward addressing our democratic crisis is honest conversation about its nature and scale.

I invite you to consider where you can make a difference—whether through local civic engagement, supporting democratic reform initiatives, or simply fostering better understanding across political divides in your own communities.

The future of democracy depends not just on politicians and institutions, but on citizens willing to demand better and work toward it.