Our second president feared that a division of the country into two competing factions was "the greatest political evil under our Constitution." Twenty-one states are now singularly represented by one party in the U.S. House of Representatives. Eight other states need to redistrict just one seat to eliminate any opposing representation entirely. And right now, far too many states to list are considering map changes that would undermine democracy further still — through gerrymandering.

When elections are unfair, accountability vanishes, and with it, the hope for change. Governments only endure when respect is given to opposing views. The lack of accountability inherent to gerrymandering makes it easy to treat the powerless without consideration — and unfortunately, depending on the state, can work exactly the same way for both sides. Without electoral integrity, our founders' fears become reality.

The blame doesn't rest only with the political elite who hijacked our system of government. It also rests with a public that passively accepted these maneuvers over the past several decades. At some point, citizens need to take an active role in correcting our course. Ultimately, staying stuck in this cycle is a choice.

Federal and state constitutions offer us a clear path to reform. They concentrate power in the lower chambers and put those seats up for election every two years — our built-in tool to quickly "reconstitute" the government whenever the system is corrupted and unable to fix itself. Instead of using that tool to repair democracy, the lawmakers who benefit from it are actively working to make things worse.

Our primary system is built to re-elect incumbents and elevate more extreme candidates. Neither side wants fundamental change, because the status quo works just fine for both of them. But what if we dared to build a new nominating system instead?

Nothing stops us from using a political party to engage voters in a fair, nonpartisan way — empowering communities to choose candidates who actually represent them. An app is already in development to deliver a free and equal nominating contest for Congress, one that makes candidates earn your vote, and answer for it when they don't.

The alternative — letting a bad system get worse — leads to nothing but blue states and red states, more divided than ever. It’s the opposite of popular sovereignty, and a sure way to end democracy as we know it. The time to break the two-party system is now, before it breaks us.