Fixing U.S. Politics

What business can—and must—do to revitalize democracy

by

Katherine M. Gehl

and

Michael E. Porter

by

Katherine M. Gehl

and

Michael E. Porter

From the Magazine (July–August 2020) · Long read

Robert James

Summary.

Although people tend to think of the American political system as a public institution based on high-minded principles, it’s not. Politics behaves according to the same kinds of incentives and forces that shape competition in any private industry.

Our elections and our legislative systems are drowning in unhealthy competition: The political-industrial complex wins, and the public interest loses. Business, in pursuing its short-term interests, has become a major participant in the politics industry, exacerbating its dysfunction.

We can have healthy competition in politics—results, innovation, and accountability—by redesigning how we vote to connect acting in the public interest with getting reelected. Applying Porter’s Five Forces framework illuminates the root causes of political dysfunction and points to the most powerful levers for transformation.

Idea in Brief

The Problem

Although people tend to think of the American political system as a public institution based on high-minded principles, it’s not. Politics behaves according to the same kinds of incentives and forces that shape competition in any private industry.

Winners and Losers

Our elections and our legislative systems are drowning in unhealthy competition: The entrenched duopoly—the Republicans and the Democrats—wins, and the public interest loses.

The Solution

We can have healthy competition in politics—results, innovation, and accountability—by redesigning how we vote to connect acting in the public interest with getting reelected. We call it free-market politics.

Amid the unprecedented partisanship and gridlock in Washington, DC, Congress appears locked in a permanent battle, incapable of delivering results. It seems to many Americans—and to the rest of the world—that our political system is so irrational and dysfunctional that it’s beyond repair.

A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2020 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Katherine M. Gehl is the former CEO of Gehl Foods and the founder of the Institute for Political Innovation. She is a co-author of The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).
Michael E. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. He has served as an adviser to governments and campaigns around the world on the advancement of social policy and economic policy, including Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. His latest paper is The Role of Business in Society. He is an academic adviser to the Leadership Now Project.

Fixing U.S. Politics

Idea in Brief

The Problem

Winners and Losers

The Solution

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