{"id":4344,"date":"2017-03-16T15:31:49","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T19:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/"},"modified":"2017-03-16T15:31:49","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T19:31:49","slug":"transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who makes the calls?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Who really makes the decisions that guide the United States and its economy forward? Technically, the US is a democratic republic, meaning that every citizen doesn\u2019t get to vote on every policy or bill.\u00a0 It does however mean that everyone has equal opportunity to vote for representatives to make decisions for them. Every two years we elect approximately 469 congressmen and women, all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the 100 Senators.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in 2016 there were only 37 races, were even considered contested [1].\u00a0 We also get to elect a President every four years.\u00a0 Due to the system of the Electoral College, which is the topic for another discussion, a state basically casts all of its votes for one candidate.\u00a0 This means that only the states with extremely similar numbers of Republicans or Democrats will have competitive races.\u00a0 During the 2016 Presidential election only 11 out of the 50 states were considered to be in play; the rest were basically already decided.<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s it.\u00a0 Every 2 years 8% of US citizens get a meaningful vote for Congress.\u00a0 Every 4 years 11 states get to place meaningful votes for President.\u00a0 All the while the 114th<\/sup> Congress, which was in session for 2015 and 2016, voted to enact 329 laws and passed 708 resolutions over two years [3].\u00a0 This may have been the best system the founding fathers could come up with in the 1700\u2019s, given the technology and transportation challenges of the time.\u00a0 Can\u2019t there be some way for members of congress to tap into the opinions of their constituencies to better represent them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Imagine a mechanism by which a Congressman or Congresswoman could release a poll, the same way you would on Survey Monkey or other popular sites, every time there was an important vote.\u00a0 The poll could be sent to an entire state for a Senator or a specific district for a member of the House of Representatives.\u00a0 \u00a0While I don\u2019t necessarily think it would be a wise idea to always vote 100% with the way the crowd voted, but it would be a far more accurate representation than the current system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why would the crowd would participate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a time when trust of those in Washington DC, whether we elected them or not, is at an all-time low, I believe crowd participation would be incredibly high [4].\u00a0 Not only do I think they would appreciate being better informed about what is actually getting voted on and when, I believe they would relish in the idea that they could compare how they would have voted to how their representatives voted.\u00a0 While it is impossible for everyday voters to spend the time to read the pages and pages of bills being debated (the average bill is over 16,000 words [5]) it would force Congress to be able to boil down what they are deciding into manageable pieces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why would Politicians be interested?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>In many political races, differentiation is the main goal.\u00a0 What sets you apart from the candidate before you, from the opposing party, and from everyone else in Washington?\u00a0 This could be an incredible way for a young politician to separate him or herself from the competition.\u00a0 It would also be an amazing way to gain very accurate data on your constituencies and how they think and feel about various issues and over time and geography.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why would it be better than the current system?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Two main features would make this system much better than the current system of vote and wait.\u00a0 Being able to show a political exactly how their constituency voted on key issues would be a great way for their supporters to hold their feet to the fire about the many promises made during the campaign process, as well as opponents to call them out on instances when they weren\u2019t representing their districts well.\u00a0 More importantly though, is that it would encourage a more informed and involved electorate.\u00a0 I would consider myself a fairly educated human, but I have no idea what is being voted on this week or this month in congress.\u00a0 I often only learn how my representatives voted the next time they run for something, rather than before they happen.\u00a0 So while there would be some obvious and extremely large challenges, surrounding technology, security, and data integrity, I cant help but believe it would be better than what we have now!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/United_States_Congress_elections,_2016<\/a><\/p>\n

[2] http:\/\/www.270towin.com\/maps\/2016-election-battleground-states<\/p>\n

[3] https:\/\/www.govtrack.us\/congress\/bills\/statistics<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/poll\/5392\/trust-government.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

[5] https:\/\/govtracknews.wordpress.com\/2014\/05\/28\/are-bills-getting-longer\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Utilizing technology, can we do a better job making decisions about the future of our country than our elected officials? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1058,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-4344","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/managing-digital-crowds\/","yoast_head":"\nTransforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Utilizing technology, can we do a better job making decisions about the future of our country than our elected officials?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Pic-1.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/\",\"name\":\"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/Pic-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-16T19:31:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/Pic-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/Pic-1.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_description":"Utilizing technology, can we do a better job making decisions about the future of our country than our elected officials?","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/","og_site_name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Pic-1.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/","name":"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people! - Digital Innovation and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Pic-1.png","datePublished":"2017-03-16T19:31:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Pic-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Pic-1.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/transforming-government-giving-some-power-back-to-the-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Transforming Government \u2013 Giving some power back to the people!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/","name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/4344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1058"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/4344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}