The Future of Our Former Democracy

In the Season 3 finale, co-hosts Ruth and Colin bring the lessons of Australia home. They look at FairVote’s modeling of a proportional US House, which would give Republicans seats in Massachusetts and Democrats more seats in Georgia, and research from the Data and Democracy Lab showing how it could greatly expand the power of Black, Latino, and AAPI voters to elect candidates of choice. They also look at Portland’s first proportional election, and the Fair Representation Act, which could pass with a simple act of Congress.

Listen to the end to see where we are heading next for season four of The Future of Our Former Democracy!

Special thanks to the experts featured in this episode:Dr. Marija Taflaga, Centre for the Study of Australian Politics, Australian National University and co-host of Democracy Sausage podcast about Australian Politics

Professor David Smith, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Mentioned Resources:

FairVote, Fair Representation Act modeling

Data and Democracy Lab, proportional representation and communities of color study

Fix Our House, Polling on Americans’ views of the two-party system

New York Times Editorial Board, “A Congress for Every American”Our Common PurposeDemocracy Sausage podcast

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a production of More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies.

For more information on More Equitable Democracy’s work, please visit: https://www.equitabledemocracy.org/

It’s the moment Colin has been waiting for all season: the lab experiment. In Australia, the same voters use the same ranked ballot on the same day to elect two chambers, but the winner-take-all House produces a two-party landslide while the proportional Senate produces a crossbench that the government can’t pass laws without.

Ruth and Colin dig into what that difference means for accountability, extremism, and representation, including how First Nations Senators kept Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation on the national agenda after the 2023 Voice referendum failed, and what it would take to bring these lessons home to the United States.

Special thanks to the experts featured in this episode:Professor David Smith, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Dr. Marija Taflaga, Centre for the Study of Australian Politics, Australian National University and co-host of Democracy Sausage podcast about Australian Politics

Dr. Jill Sheppard, Australian National University

Dominic Knight, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Mentioned Resources:

2025 Australian Senate Election Results Map

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a production of More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies.

For more information on More Equitable Democracy's work, please visit: https://www.equitabledemocracy.org/

After the slaughter at Gallipoli, Australia began to see itself as more than an outpost of the British Empire, and it kicked off its greatest era of democratic experimentation.

Ruth and Colin walk through the questions Australians asked and answered along the way, exploring reforms ranging from preferential voting and compulsory voting to proportional representation in the Senate. Then they get into the weeds of the Australian ballot itself, from the “tablecloth” ballots of 250 candidates to the 2016 reforms sparked by the surprise election of a Motoring Enthusiast Party senator, showing how even ballot design can reshape a democracy.

Special thanks to the experts featured in this episode:

Paul Daffy, Melbourne Tour Guide

Professor David Smith, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Dr. Jill Sheppard, Australian National University

Mentioned Resources:

Australian Ballot Image

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a production of More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies.

For more information on More Equitable Democracy's work, please visit: https://www.equitabledemocracy.org/

Australia built its democracy on the idea of a "fair go," but who was it actually for?

Ruth and Colin examine the White Australia policy, the Stolen Generations, and the dictation tests designed to keep non-white immigrants out, drawing stark parallels to Jim Crow literacy tests and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Ruth reckons with her own family's role in a massacre of Wiradjuri people, MED’s George Cheung walks through Melbourne's Chinatown, and the hosts explore the failed Voice referendum and how states like South Australia and Victoria are stepping in where the nation fell short.

Special thanks to the experts featured in this episode:

Professor Thalia Anthony, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University

Mark Wong, CEO, Museum of Chinese Australian History

Simon Chen, Founder and Director, Art Atrium Gallery, and President, Chinese Australian Forum

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a production of More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies.

For more information on More Equitable Democracy's work, please visit: https://www.equitabledemocracy.org/

How does a British penal colony become one of the world's most trusted democracies?

Ruth and Colin head back to 1788 to trace how a society of convicts and guards pioneered the secret ballot, the living wage, and the eight-hour workday, blending Washington and Westminster into a democracy all its own, built on the ethos of the "fair go." But that story is inseparable from the dispossession and genocide of First Nations people, raising the question of who Australian democracy was actually built for.

Special thanks to the experts featured in this episode:

Dr. Mark Dunn, Historian and Author of The Convict Valley

Professor Thalia Anthony, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University

Dr. Marija Taflaga, Centre for the Study of Australian Politics, Australian National University and co-host of Democracy Sausage podcast about Australian Politics

Paul Daffy, Journalist and Tour Guide

Mentioned Resources Link

The Future of Our Former Democracy is a production of More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies.

For more information on More Equitable Democracy's work, please visit: https://www.equitabledemocracy.org/