Winner Take All

Winner takes all is endemic to American society.  Just ask Vince Lombardi (Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.) Fierce competition for “success” has polarized and stratified our society between the haves and the have-nots. There is only one Oscar winner in each category, only one national champion in any sport, one successful candidate for every office on the ballot.

I learned a useful lesson in my congregation this past week.  We have been discussing proposed changes in Article II of the Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws, the section that sets forth our version of theology.  There is sharp disagreement over what changes are being made, a libertarian/humanist vocal minority on one side, the mainstream on the other.  My congregation has five delegates, and the board, in its surprising wisdom, will call for a vote and assign delegates to vote on each question in proportion to the intensity of the congregation’s vote.

How might we apply this elsewhere in our common life?  Well, there is ranked choice voting in place of poorly attended runoffs.  It is a little bit more complicated but a fairer representative of preferences.  There is the jungle primary in which all candidates for an elective office run and the top two candidates, regardless of party, advance to the November election. There are just two outlier states who allocate electors based on Congressional district.  There is the challenge of designated seats versus electing the top 2, 3,4 or 5 members of a city or county council –each option says something different about representation of minorities. There is redistricting, largely nullified these days by the Trump Court (they just couldn’t’ get around to South Carolina’s first district in time for this year’s election), but still a useful tool.

The Quakers gave us an alternative, also practiced by the early New England Congregationalists, of consensus—the sense of the meeting trying to come up with an answer that all could, if not endorse, at least live with—after everyone has a chance to be heard.  Works well in small groups.  My local League of Women Voters went through a consensus process this past week and emerged satisfied with both the experience and the outcome.

In the Olympics we honor the top three with gold, silver, and bronze.  Getting a bronze medal is still considered a great achievement. Perhaps we can find other ways of win-win outcomes in our personal and public life.