I currently live in a country that has amassed almost 14 trillion dollars in debt. But what troubles me the most is that, against this background of debt, the wealthiest 1% of the population controls 17 trillion dollars of wealth. In other words, we don’t have a debt crisis. We have a concentration-of-wealth crisis.

Political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson provide valuable insights into this crisis in their new book “Winner-Take-All Politics.” The primary problem, Hacker and Pierson demonstrate, is the corrupting influence of money within the American political system, which has resulted in decades of public policies – advanced by both parties – that favor the ongoing concentration of wealth within the most affluent segments of the population.

Of course, in a system of governance defined by interest-group competition, it should be no surprise that the most affluent and powerful interest groups will prevail. Simply put: political contests are expensive, so those with the most wealth exert a disproportionate influence on the outcomes of such contests. Why, then, does the majority of the population, which clearly does not benefit from this arrangement, continue to consent to this contest model of governance? Why have so many people bought into the myth of competitive democracy?

Winston Churchill once stated that “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the other forms that have been tried.” This statement most accurately describes competitive democracy, because this is the only form of democracy that has been tried. Apologists defend competitive democracy with the argument that it is the most rational alternative to political tyranny or anarchy. Thus the problems inherent in political contests are accepted as “necessary evils.” All systems of government are imperfect, the argument goes, and competitive democracy is the best we can do.

I beg to differ.

It’s time to move beyond the culture of contest. It’s time to get down to the hard work of reinventing democratic governance. It’s time to engage in a systematic process of social learning and innovation that will lead us toward a more just and sustainable social order. Toward this end, the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity recently drafted a working paper titled “Reflections on Governance.” The purpose of this thought-provoking paper is to invite reflection, dialog, and learning about the challenges of good governance.

I say let the learning begin.