A Modest Proposal For Fixing America’s Broken Election System

In his “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift sarcastically proposed that Ireland swallow its children to solve its most pressing problem.

Here I sincerely propose the United States swallow its elections to solve its most pressing problem.

I’m a results-oriented guy. Which means at some point? The fetishization of process should be ended — if the results of the process are awful.

And so it is with the process of governance in the United States.

The U.S. has long had varyingly-tainted-but-basically-free elections. And those elected officials have for long enacted laws and policies.

Well, how’s it going?

If you respond with anything other than “awful?” You are either not paying attention — or are allowing the process of patriotism to get in the way of your recognition of reality.

If you’re honest (with yourself)? You can’t come to any other conclusion than the U..S is broke and broken.

Here’s the chief reason why: Our governments are HUGE. Federal, state and local — all MUCH larger than they need be.

And here’s the kicker: Big Business owns and operates ALL of them. They are ALL corrupt puppets of Big Biz.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this.

Doubt me about the states and local governments? Check out the surveillance regimes and attending data center deployments being jammed down our throats all over the country.

Now let’s peruse Q2 2026 federal lobbying numbers. Graciously compiled last Tuesday by the folks at Politico Influence.

The numbers are, as always, staggering. The top 20 lobby shops in Q2 2026 took in $252.4 million. A QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS.

Just for straight lobbying. Just for the top 20 straight lobbying shops. Just for three months.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of straight lobbying shops beyond the top 20.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of other, non-straight-lobbying influence shops.  Political consultants, policy consultants, advertising consultants, messaging consultants, pollsters, think tanks, policy shoppers ….

ALL of them cashing in. And D.C. carves US up and sells US by the pound to pay them all — with our money.

 “If voting made any difference? They wouldn’t let us do it.”

 — Mark Twain

 Keep Mister Clemens et al in mind when next you hear about the importance of the upcoming midterm elections. Or how important it is to pass the SAVE Act. Or how vital it is that we re-elect Maine’s 75-year-old Susan Collins to a SIXTH six-year Senate term.

 From the 1979 flick “Meatballs”:

 “It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter if we win or we lose.”

 — Tripper (Bill Murray)

 We elect Republicans … and then we elect Democrats … and then we ….

 And nothing ever changes. And everything only ever gets worse.

 So … what to do?

The 1983 flick “WarGames” showed us the way…:

“Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

 — Joshua

We have elections?  And we have AWFUL results.

Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

Doctor: “Don’t do that.” 

Instead of elections? Let’s fill those seats the way we fill up juries: Randomly draw names out of hats.

Per the Sixth Amendment. Voir dire can be used to ensure no undesirables make the cut.

“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”

— William F. Buckley

To correspond with Jury Duty — we’ll call this Civic Duty.

Civic Duty would only be one term. Because these are normal, healthy members of society — with actual lives to which to return. Imagine a ruling class — who can’t stand ruling.

Contemplate all of the government idiocies that would disappear. And the transformational changes for the better that would take place.

Gone are 99+% of the self-serving sellouts currently affixed like barnacles to the bodies government. Not just the elected officials — but almost all of the Lobby Industrial Complex that owns and operates them.

How much lobbying power can Big Business exert upon a bunch of one-term conscript plumbers and farmers? Plumbers and farmers who are irretrievably disgusted by these people — because they have ruined our country. Tens (hundreds) of billions of annual lobby dollars just … disappear.

In 2024 at least $15.9 billion was spent on just the federal elections. Plus tens (hundreds) of billions more on states and locals. 100% of that money goes away.

Imagine our governments filled entirely with Mr. Smiths. Going to Washington and the many other places of government intending to do good not for their Big Business donors — because they don’t have any — but instead for us.

I know, I know … I’ve disenfranchised We the People.  I’ve ended the process of elections (and their awful results).

But be honest (with yourself):

The Founding Fathers wanted a citizen government. Regular people taking a short time out of their lives to serve We the People — and then getting back to their lives. We haven’t had that in many, many decades.

At any level of government. Civic Duty restores this.

The Founders were wary of political Parties — which they knew would inevitably arise as a result of the elections they were establishing. We are now buried in the quicksand of the two Party system. Civic Duty ends this.

The Founders also feared the freedom they were granting? Could very well be corrupted — and ultimately wasted.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

— Ben Franklin

Does anyone not think the Founders’ worst fears have been exceeded — by orders-of-magnitude?

We now have career politicians from both Parties conspiring against We the People.

Who have built huge governments at every level — that serve their Big Business paymasters at our expense.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this — all throughout this nigh-total national degradation.

Let’s remove from the process the people who have destroyed our country.

By removing the elections that have allowed them to do it.

I submit, modestly.

Seton Motley is a consultant and the founder and president of Less Government, an organization dedicated to, well, less government.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.