Maryland Forward Party

Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly - the Democrats and the Republicans - and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. 

Katherine M. Gehl explains today's political system in this Ted Talk.  Get the book here

Maryland Forward couldn't agree more and we think that we need to end the tribalism of the duopoly by instituting ranked-choice voting and non-partisan primaries. Taken together, these two reforms will:

• 1. Allow voters to vote their conscience and still have their vote count if their first choice doesn't get enough votes to continue,
• 2. By putting all the candidates in the same pool and eliminating party identification of voters we can bring independents into the primary system, dilute extremist primary voters, and elect more rational, moderate candidates.