By Sheeva Azma

2024 is an election year, so it’s a great time to reflect on the state of governance. I’m personally so tired of the election narratives we hear. I recorded a YouTube video about it, which you can watch here.

 So, I’ve come up with an idea that I think policymakers can use. My concept? I call it “reverse legislating.” I loosely define “reverse legislating” as a way to look past specific issues to bring policymaking back to shared values and the ideals we have in elevating our nation to new heights of peace and prosperity.

Deconstructing Our Laws – and What They Aim to Achieve

I invented the phrase “reverse legislating” because I am a fan of deconstructionist literary theory, which I learned about in high school English class – not at MIT.

“To deconstruct is to take a text apart along the structural “fault lines” created by the ambiguities inherent in one or more of its key concepts or themes in order to reveal the equivocations or contradictions that make the text possible,” writes the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

In other words, to deconstruct literature is to become ungovernable. Rather than accepting the meaning of a text as it is not only shaped by the author, but also by people interpreting it, deconstructionism identifies meaning where not previously seen – nullifying meanings and theme that the author – or even your English teachers – may have held dear. 

“Deconstruction challenges the way we interpret meaning,” writes Study.com at the top of a Google search for deconstructionism – I assume to help those confused students who may be burning the midnight oil trying to write a deconstructionist critique and coming up short.

“So,” you may ask, “what do legislative priorities have to do with deconstructionism?”

I’ll get to that in a moment.

“Did you make up ‘reverse legislating’?”

The answer to this question is yes. After I came up with this phrase, I Googled it and there is nothing substantive that comes up except for one excerpt of the San Franscisco Chronicle that defines it as “a bill that is a bailout, but is disguised to appear to not be a bailout.” This is a quote from an article from immigration lawyer Sean Olender’s op-ed in the publication. Obviously, that’s not my definition…but, anyway, let’s move on.

Why “Reverse Legislating”?

Reverse legislating is a policymaking and communications strategy that transcends the issues. It goes back to our core values – things we all hold dear here in the US.

Reverse legislating is a deconstructionist form of shaping political narratives that goes above the issues of the day. It requires going beyond the issue. Why would one even do this?

The reason is that politicians, perhaps in an effort to win elections, take certain highly polarizing issues and run with them. While this may help mobilize the most extreme sides of their base, it’s not a good strategy for society because it creates fractured echo chambers that are sometimes in direct disagreement. We need to solve national problems together because important stuff requires bipartisan support. If we can’t decide on a solution as a nation, then that’s a really bad sign for democracy.

Reverse Legislating in Action

What does “reverse legislating” look like in practice?

Firstly, it spells the end of politicians getting on their soapbox to tout extremist policies meant to cater to their base – usually ridiculous and often, legislatively impossible things. Reverse legislating brings a stop to inconsequential campaign promises that are meant to appease only one segment of the population. Reverse legislating is a way to look past the inane policies that our lawmakers propose every day, just for the sake of saying they will get things done, and forces them to consider the real issues.

There’s a number of issues I could name that politicians talk about daily with no real policy solution, or worse, policies that harm one subset of people in the US just to win campaign points.

Campaign promises should help improve society, not just get something done because you want to use it as a talking point to get elected. Polarizing the electorate doesn’t get things done and it’s bad for society.

When politicians make these ridiculous claims, one thing voters can do is to call them out on their attempt to coerce the populace. Things that matter to people are issues like being able to pay your bills or having a good economy. These are issues that can have clear policy proposals. 

Everyone cares about national security, and perhaps, if you asked someone to weight their relative policy priorities, they’d value a strong nation way more than they might care about what people think teachers should teach in schools or who should be able to use what bathroom. When I hear politicians talking about these issues, I just think: is there someone who cares so much about this issue that it will be their deciding issue as a voter? Can a federal lawmaker even set laws on these issues?

“Reverse legislating” looks beyond campaign promises made for the sake of making campaign promises that can get Facebook likes and media time. Reverse legislating holds leaders accountable by prioritizing getting things done for people in the US. Voting is done by voters, not the media, and not by social media algorithms – something that seems to go underappreciated in our current digital media landscape.

The main idea here is that picking one side inherently polarizes the other side – so find another way. One can do this by looking to values that unite everyone, such as: justice, rule of law, health, a strong nation, a good economy, and more. I challenge you to use the concept of “reverse legislating” not only in your political communications, if you are a political communicator, but also in the way you approach politics as a voter.

Another part of deconstructionism is looking at the big picture and then realizing that maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I’d love a candidate that can analyze the election meta-narrative and rise above it. I’d also love to help elect candidates that make campaign promises that take into account what’s actually possible as a politician in our current times. People who want to solve big problems and break through the issues of “optics” and “messaging” are masters in reverse legislating.

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