Katherine Gehl

U.S. Politics: What's the State of Our Nation?

Alan D. Schwartz, Bob Corker, Katherine Gehl, Jason Grumet, Patrick Steel

Former Senator Bob Corker and experts Catherine Fitch and Michael Porter diagnose U.S. political dysfunction as a systemic issue driven by rigid primary rules and media incentives that force candidates toward extremism, rather than a lack of personal talent. To counter this, reformers propose a "Election Trifecta" of non-partisan top-four primaries, ranked-choice voting, and non-partisan redistricting, alongside a strategy to elect a coalition of independent senators who can force bipartisan negotiation. While speakers acknowledge the risks of unintended consequences from over-engineering reforms, they emphasize that restoring the capacity for legislative courage remains the critical path to fixing a system where the electorate's moderate preferences are currently overridden by polarized primary dynamics.