King's Process

1) Observation: To resolve an issue, first we need to observe, correctly identify and acknowledge that the problem exists.

Applied to current election issues

1) Observation: Our election systems do not accurately reflect voter intent. They are designed to produce distorted results, concentrate power in a wealthy elite, and exclude most of the electorate from decision making. The EIU Democracy Index lists the US as a "Flawed Democracy". Most of the US does not have Pluralism. Thousands of elections go uncontested. Voters have little to no choice, many candidates have no accountability.

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2) Understanding: Without understanding root causes and why issues persist, no solution(s) will successfully address the underlying issues.

3) Remedies: Solutions are devised to specifically address known and anticipated issues.

4) Attention: Support must be gathered by educating and motivating a critical mass of people.

5) Action: Legislation must be passed to resolve the issue(s).

See an excellent dramatization of this process in the film “Selma”.

2) Understanding: Election issues that distort outcomes like Gerrymandering and the Electoral College, did not happen suddenly, in a vacuum. Current issues have historical roots in archaic 18th C. value systems. 21st C. values are significantly different from those of the Founders, most of whom owned slaves. To prolong slavery and keep a wealthy elite in power, Madison designed the government and electoral system to "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority". He did this by practicing extreme voter suppression (94%) and distorting election results to consistently favor Southern slavers.

Today's financial elite continue to exploit legacy systems that concentrate wealth and power in a small percentage of the population. Through a 2 Party Cartel, they control a giant industry called Government. They have colluded to keep in place government and electoral systems designed to exclude competition.

Our goals in 2021 are vastly different than the goals of the Founders and today's ruling, plutocratic elite. Until we remedy the slavers' product, their government structures and electoral systems, we're stuck with their legacy, archaic values. We will have concentrated power and wealth until such time when government and electoral systems are designed to reflect the full diverse spectrum of voter intent and interests.

3) Remedies: Inclusive, group decision making is better than exclusive, autocratic decision making. Dispersed power is better than concentrated power. The majority of OECD countries use Proportional Representation. Existing Pro Rep governing systems and voting methods designed to disperse power and include nearly everyone, can serve as proven models for remedying persistent Issues.

4) Attention: Educating candidates, elected officials and voters about issues and remedies, we can introduce proportional solutions to the public, with the goal of widespread adoption.

5) Action:

• Promote candidates who champion election reform.

• Introduce Good Governance Boards at the local level to track issues, set goals and introduce reforms in 22,000+ Home Rule cities and counties across the US.

• Identify and remove obstructions to Pro Rep implementation at the federal, state and local levels.

• Introduced and pass initiatives using Direct Democracy to implement election reform in Home Rule cities and counties.

• Lobby the Secretary of State office and local county clerks in every state, to measure governance system performance using metrics similar to the EIU Democracy Index standards on: Electoral Process and Pluralism, Functioning of Government, Political Participation, Political Culture, and Civil Liberties.

The EIU will not release the details of how they measure "Democracy" beyond the five broad categories above. The "Best Democracy Index" is open source (help make it better), transparent and can be used as a framework to measure the performance of democracy at the local level.

We can implement election reform following Dr. Martin Luther King's proven protocol for abolishing 100 years of Jim Crow.

- Jesse Kumin 03/2017 Revised 03/2021

The Political and Rhetorical Strategies of Martin Luther King