The Shocking Truth: U.S. Politics Isn’t Broken—It’s Fixed

If you ask the average American how they feel about the current political landscape, you’ll hear words like "broken," "dysfunctional," and "polarized." We watch the gridlock in Washington and assume the machine has stopped working.

But according to business leader and activist Katherine Gehl, we have it all wrong. In her eye-opening TED Talk, Gehl argues that the U.S. political system isn't broken at all. In fact, it’s working exactly as it was designed to.

The problem isn't a lack of effort or "bad people"—it's a classic case of a duopoly that has successfully optimized for its own survival at the expense of its customers: the voters.

The Politics Industry: A Business Perspective

Gehl looks at politics through the lens of industry competition. In any other sector, if two companies dominated 100% of the market while providing a product that 60-70% of people hated, a new competitor would swoop in and disrupt them.

In politics, however, the "Big Two" (Democrats and Republicans) have created massive barriers to entry. They don’t compete to deliver better results for citizens; they compete to maintain their share of the power. This results in a system where:

• Winning the primary is more important than winning the general election.

• Compromise is seen as a political death sentence.

• The "customers" (voters) have no leverage because there are no viable alternatives.

The Primary Problem

Most congressional districts are "safe," meaning they are heavily tilted toward one party. Because of this, the only election that actually matters is the party primary.

Since primary voters tend to be the most ideologically extreme, politicians are incentivized to move further to the left or right to avoid being "primaried." If a politician reaches across the aisle to solve a problem, they risk losing their job in the next cycle. In this environment, gridlock is actually a successful business strategy for the parties.

How to Fix a "Fixed" System

Gehl doesn't just diagnose the problem; she offers a structural solution. To change the results, we have to change the rules of the game. She advocates for two specific "innovations" that have already begun to take root in places like Alaska and Maine:

1. Final-Five Primaries (Abolishing Party Primaries)

Instead of separate primaries for each party, all candidates appear on a single ballot. The top five finishers, regardless of party, move on to the general election. This eliminates the "fear of the flank" and allows politicians to appeal to a broader, more moderate base of voters without the immediate threat of losing their seat for being reasonable.

2. Ranked Choice Voting

In the general election, voters rank the five candidates in order of preference. If your first choice can’t win, your vote automatically transfers to your second choice. This ensures that the winner has the support of a true majority and makes it safe for voters to support third-party or independent candidates without "wasting" their vote.

The Bottom Line

We cannot wait for politicians to "decide" to be better. The incentives of the current system won't allow it.

As Katherine Gehl points out, the U.S. political system is a private industry that has been allowed to write its own rules. If we want a government that prioritizes progress over partisanship, we have to re-engineer the machinery of democracy itself. It’s time to stop complaining that the system is broken and start realizing it’s time for a redesign.

*** What do you think? Is the "Politics Industry" to blame for our current divide? Would you feel more empowered with Ranked Choice Voting? Let us know in the comments below!