The Primary Solution

It has been a hell of a month. I broke my foot in seven places on June 26th, had surgery on July 12th, and am facing six months of crutches, boots, and rehab. As a management consultant, when something is broken it is my instinct to fix it. The upside of an injury is that you have some extra time on your hands. My summer backpacking adventure was no longer an option. So, I picked up a book that had been sitting on my nightstand and dove into Unite America’s “The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes” by Nick Troiano.

Our politics are broken, and Nick has some ideas. The evidence of this is apparent to me as I encourage the young people in my office to vote. That suggestion is universally met with an “OK Boomer” eye roll (I am not a Boomer. It isn’t even close, so stop rolling your eyes at me.) As of this May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 67% of Americans wanted different options for president. For the last thirty years in Texas, the Republican primary has been the election of consequence in statewide races. It only took 3% of Texans to vote for a candidate for them to win in 2022 (6% of Texans voted in the Republican primary but it only takes 50% + 1 to win.) Extremism drives voter apathy and apathy, in turn, drives more extremism.

The Primary Solution offers several structural reforms that are collectively designed to reduce the influence of the most extreme elements of our political life. These include open primaries where the top two candidates go onto the general election regardless of party, rank-choice voting which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, and gerrymander reform. These are thought-provoking ideas. I don’t know if they would work or the likelihood of them ever being implemented, but as a consultant, I appreciate the contribution to the conversation. Give the book a read, or for the young people in my life, here is a link to a less than three-minute video explainer.

By the way, if you believe that you can discern anything meaningful about my politics from the fact that I read a book, I encourage you to read this post again. I am an American, a patriot, and a proud Texan who loves his country and is trying his best to “form a more perfect union” and ensure that my children and grandchildren enjoy the “blessings of liberty.”