Here's how to restore democracy in Pa., that's truly of, for, and by the people | Opinion
Updated Jan 30, 2019; Posted Jul 20, 2018
By Guest Editorial
By Stephen Herzenberg and Jonathan White
It's not news that Pennsylvania's democracy is in trouble - as we document in a new report, Democracy in Pennsylvania, released just before the July 4 celebration of the nation's birth.
Measured by electoral competition (we don't have much), money in politics (we have too much), turnout (it's too low), and confidence in government (people don't have much), Pennsylvania's democracy is in critical condition.
What may be news - it was to us - is that it wasn't always this way. Pennsylvania used to have a much more robust and responsive democracy. And it could have again - if we put in place some straightforward solutions to Pennsylvania's democracy deficit.
Not so long ago, Pennsylvania elections had real electoral competition and, as a result, voters had real choices. From the 1940s to the 1970s, fewer than 5% of state legislative incumbents had uncontested general elections. In the 1930s, state Senate incumbents lost a third of the time.
Bring these House and Senate bills to a vote so lawmakers are forced to go on the record.
Now, thanks to gerrymandering and incumbent fundraising advantages, nearly half of state legislative candidates face no general election opponent.
Back in 1964, two thirds of Americans agreed with the statement "government is run for the benefit of all the people." Now, 80% of people think government is "run by a few big interests"?
Also, in 1964, more than 60 percent of Pennsylvanians turned out to vote even in a gubernatorial (i.e., non-presidential) election year.
In the early 1900s, 70 percent turned out. In our last gubernatorial election, only 35 percent turned out. That's a problem because it makes it easier for politicians to pay even less attention to the priorities of regular people.
One of the factors corroding our democracy is, of course, money in politics.
For example, the average campaign contributions to Pennsylvania state Senate candidates has tripled in the last 20 years, to $700,000. In lobbying and with campaign contributions, spending by corporations and affluent donors overwhelm labor spending.
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Pennsylvania's democracy deficit has made lawmakers increasingly responsive to the self-interest and ideologies of their donors.
A bipartisan majority of Pennsylvania voters favor a higher state minimum wage (like all our neighboring states have), a severance tax on natural gas (like all other major gas-producing states have), and state funding to make public colleges affordable again. Yet none of those priorities has made it through the current legislature.
Other states show how Pennsylvania can create a more responsive democracy. We need a truly independent commission to redraw legislative district lines - like California. We need to make it easier to vote through "automatic voter registration" as Georgia and 11 other states already do.
We need "same-day registration" like Iowa and Montana and 13 other states. We need no-fault absentee voting (in effect, voting by mail) like North Carolina and 29 other states.
We need to reduce the role of money in politics - through caps in campaign contributions and via public financing (as in Arizona, Connecticut, North Dakota, and Maine), including approaches that encourage small contributions from many (not-rich) people.
These reforms would increase electoral competition, turnout and the accountability of elected officials to Pennsylvanians generally.
Right about now, you may be asking, isn't there a "Catch-22"? Don't we need a more responsive democracy to enact these types of policies?
This is where "the people" come in: to overcome this Catch 22, we need a grassroots movement that demands policies on democracy, and across the board, that most Pennsylvanians want and that promote the common good.
There are signs we may have one. Across the state, "indivisible" and other community groups have sprung to life to make our state politicians more accountable.
The number of candidates in Pennsylvania primaries this gubernatorial election year jumped by 25 percent over the number in the 2016 presidential election year.
Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy and the state in which the battle of Gettysburg preserved the union so that "democracy of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth."
In 2018, the time has come for the people of Pennsylvania to embrace their shared heritage by restoring our state's democracy. Register, organize, canvas, vote. That is the only way we can achieve an economy and a democracy that once again work for all.
Stephen Herzenberg is the executive director of, and Jonathan White is a Public Policy Intern, at the Keystone Research Center, a left-leaning think-tank in Harrisburg.