You Might Also Like: The Future of Our Former Democracy 

Colin Cole (0:00)

Hi, I'm Colin Cole, co-host of The Future of Our Former Democracy, a Signal Award-winning politics podcast produced by More Equitable Democracy, a racial justice organization focused on election reform. Each season, we look at what the United States can learn from democracies around the world. This season, we're turning to Australia, a country that modeled America's democracy, and then kept innovating in ways the United States never did.

In this episode, we explore how Australia, a country with striking cultural similarities to the US, became a high-trust democracy that Americans can learn from. We also introduce our new co-host, Ruth Greenwood. She's the Director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, a More Equitable Democracy Advisory Board member, and is a proud Australian expat, who will be bringing these stories to life from personal experience and history. Before we play the full episode, be sure to follow The Future of Our Former Democracy on your favorite podcast app. Now, here's the full episode.

David Smith (0:56)

Elections in Australia, they just don't feel so high stakes.

SPEAKER_3 (0:59)

There's no right or wrong question to vote for. Everybody's got some good points and some bad points.

SPEAKER_4 (1:05)

I would like to think that it's calmer, worlds apart, in a good way.

SPEAKER_5 (1:09)

It's all very friendly and cordial, yes. We have quite a bit of faith in our system. It's not perfect, but I think our system is probably up there as one of the best ones, and people have faith in the system.

SPEAKER_6 (1:21)

I always feel like the people who are involved in politics have more in common with each other than they do with the people who don't care.

SPEAKER_7 (1:28)

It's much more open here. It's friendly discourse versus anything else.

SPEAKER_4 (1:34)

For the betterment of the nation, not too much, you know, you win, I win sort of thing.

SPEAKER_7 (1:40)

People have voting preferences, but it doesn't seem to be so polarized.

SPEAKER_4 (1:46)

It's not a cult of personality.

SPEAKER_7 (1:47)

It's kind of a coalition of people.

David Smith (1:49)

What you don't have is this feeling that this election could be the end of the world.

SPEAKER_6 (1:54)

I think you want to get a Democracy Sausage as well.

David Smith (1:56)

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

Marija Taflaga (1:59)

You can't form a government unless you're winning that median voter. So there really are sort of pitching to the middle. And that's why Australian politics is boring.

Boring.

David Smith (2:07)

Boring.

Colin Cole (2:09)

That's not a phrase many of us in the United States would use to describe our elections. Yet across the political spectrum in Australia, people widely trust their elections in a way that we here just don't.

Marija Taflaga (2:21)

Why?

Colin Cole (2:25)

Welcome to the third season of The Future of Our Former Democracy. I'm Colin Cole.

Ruth Greenwood (2:29)

And I'm Ruth Greenwood.

Colin Cole (2:30)

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a project of More Equitable Democracy, a racial justice 501c3 nonprofit based in the United States. Our mission is simple, to transform US elections into a more equitable democracy.

Elections are at the heart of a lot of what drives our society. And for a lot of folks in the United States, we have this sort of prevailing idea that elections are the way that they are. That the system that we use that was designed 250 years ago is the system and it's the only way to do things and it's just what we have. Unaware of the fact that many other countries have decided to do their elections differently. In previous seasons, we've explored the history of elections in Northern Ireland and in Germany and have found that when you make very different choices, the outcomes of your elections are also very different.

This season, we're focusing on the inventive nature of Australian democracy. So we've brought along election expert and Australian expat, Ruth Greenwood. Ruth, tell us about yourself.

Ruth Greenwood (3:30)

I work at Harvard Law School. I'm the Director of the Election Law Clinic there, litigating and doing advocacy, mostly in redistricting somewhat with voter suppression, trying to think of ways to make American democracy work better.

Colin Cole (3:43)

So when did you move to the US and when you came over here, what was your understanding of American democracy as an Australian?

Ruth Greenwood (3:51)

I came to the US in, actually, I arrived August 7, 2008 I was going to study for a year and then go back to Australia, and November was going to be a big election.

SPEAKER_11 (4:02)

We are one people and our time for change has come.

Ruth Greenwood (4:10)