Katrina vanden Heuvel's powerful case for an agenda to transform American elections

by Rob Richie // Published July 4, 2008
The Nation Magazine editor's Katrina vanden Heuvel has been a consistently clear, powerful voice for electoral reform. My hat is off to her for her terrific new call for action on electoral reform in the new Nation.

We're of course pleased to see her feature our reform agenda: proportional representation, instant runoff voting, universal voter registration, a constitutional right to vote, fair, secure and accountable election administration and a national popular vote for president. But we know that more must be done for us to truly claim democracy.

232 years ago, our nation's founders signed the Declaration of Independence establishing that we are all created equal and that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. In terms of representative democracy, those principles demand changes to our current rules. Vanden Heuvel is a true patriot -- and it's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get busy!