OPINION: Looking Forward to 2018: Improving the U.S. through reform
In a few days it will be 2018: the year I turn 50 and unequivocally leave my youth. As I reflect on years passed, I think back to the late 1980s when, living in Europe, I was surprised by the admiration America inspired in the rest of the world. This was when I became aware of how truly remarkable our nation was.
In the ensuing decades, I watched our standing in the world decline by a slew of metrics: disastrous foreign interventions; gun homicide rates 25 times higher than other nations; one in five children living in poverty; the most expensive health care in the world; the highest prison population per capita; lagging academic achievement … the list goes on.
This 30-year slide was deeply unsettling. As I looked for answers, I concluded that our broken political system — and the skewed incentives and dynamics it has created — is the root of our nation’s troubles. Our only hope, I realized, is to fix that system: by changing how we vote to incentivize bipartisan reform and civility; by ending the auctioning of politicians and policies; and by enabling great people of diverse backgrounds to run for — and win — public office.