Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up

Based purely on the title, I went into this book expecting something different. Maybe it’s just where my mind is at these days, but I thought it would be a treatise against the democratic backsliding associated with certain world leaders that I won’t name. But it turns out that Dave Meslin’s book is an exploration of the actual governing process, and reads more like a business/management manual, but applied to the systems of democracy. It’s more about logistics than political ideology.

Personally, my experience with democracy is somewhat intermittent: just go vote whenever there’s an election. It’s not very satisfying because it doesn’t feel like you’re contributing much, especially if your choice doesn’t win. Meslin agrees, and puts the blame on the systems and institutions of the government. And from there, he suggests tons of ideas of ways for those systems to change. I had many “a-ha!” moments reading this book, and I appreciated that the book is Canadian through and through, filled with examples and stories from nearby places.

Meslin is an excellent explainer, and simplifies complicated ideas, making them easy to digest. For example, he spends a lengthy chunk of pages describing alternatives to the first-past-the-post electoral system that we use in Canada. It’s kind of a geeky subject, but he makes it really clear how our current voting system leads to polarization and unfair election results.

I’ll spend the rest of this space listing some of the more enlightening ideas in point form:

• The government suffers from poor UX (user experience). I mostly associate this term with software design, but it can be applied to real world settings. Government spaces are unwelcoming, making it intimidating for ordinary people who want to participate. For example, city council meetings that are supposed to be open to the public are held behind closed doors. The simple act of opening the door and having clear signage would make a huge difference.

• In the Canadian parliament, the legislators are seated according to their party. This automatically sets up a confrontational vibe of one side vs. the other, and leads to the embarassing shouting matches that we often see. Meslin suggests random seating, which would force a sort of mingling between adversaries and a more respectful atmosphere.

• There’s a subtle difference between charities and non-profit advocacy groups. The former is a legal designation and allows donations to be tax deductible. However, in order to receive the designation, a charity has to refrain from advocating for policy changes, and instead focus on band-aid type solutions. For example, a food bank is a charity, and while it is important to help feed those in need, a food bank is not allowed to advocate for preventing the upstream root causes of poverty. Advocacy groups, on the other hand, purposely avoid registering as charities, so that they can be more critical of systemic problems. Donating to these groups is a vote for change, even if you don’t get a tax deduction on the donation.

There’s a lot more in the book, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s interested in how the government works, beyond the rhetoric.