Tweedism is a progressive, fatal disease that can kill this country — here’s how to arrest it

Ed: I wrote this a few months after the 2016 presidential election. I post it here to remind us to get an early start on the next presidential election if we want any measurable influence on the process of electing our next president.

The discourse in social media about the last presidential election has become a lava stream of reproach, guilt and finger pointing. It seems like everybody who is against Donald Trump is pointing a finger at someone else as the blame. Yet few of those who oppose Trump are willing to admit that it is no error to vote our conscience. Fewer of them still are willing to admit that it was Hillary’s job to convince us to get out and vote for her, not just to vote against Trump.

There are some who say that our democracy is failing. We might even point to North Carolina, as a sign. According to The Hill, The Electoral Integrity Project analyzed that state’s laws, electoral district boundaries and other attributes and found that it’s about as democratic as Iran, Cuba, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. For those who believe in the Domino Theory, North Carolina may just be the first state to fall.

I believe that our government is unresponsive (to most of us) by design. I can recall my high school textbooks and their fairy tales about how a great democracy was left to us by the founders. But as an adult, I see that for much of our history, the majority of the people were not involved in the process of running this country or even choosing the leaders to run it. Most of us have no say in who gets to lead this country because we have no control over the nomination process.

I would like to direct your attention now to the work of Harvard law professor, Lawrence “Larry” Lessig. Mr. Lessig is one of the great unsung heroes in politics, and few know what he has done. Lessig woke me up to realize that when it comes to the nomination process, I had near zero input. The presidential election just passed, with that farce of a nomination process in the Democratic Party, confirmed everything that Lessig has taught me through his articles and videos.

For a short summation of what Lessig stands for, go here: