When Joe Biden was vice-president, the spoof newspaper, the onion, liked caricature

him as avancular but aimless. In one of its most memorable send-ups, Biden parks his 1981

Trans-Am in the White House driveway. In the Photoshopped pictures, he's gone full

boomer, bare-chested, soaping the curves on his classic American muscle car in the spring

sunshine. This baby just needs a little scrub down, Biden says.

Now he's president, the jokes come less easy, and its American democracy itself that

desperately needs a shine. In 2010 Freedom House, which rates democracies

scored the US at 94 out of 100. It since slipped 11 points. The Economist Intelligence Unit

rates America's democracy behind those it helped create, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Only a fifth of Americans trust the federal government most or all of the time, according

to Pew Research Centre. Can American democracy be reconditioned? This is checks and balance.

I'm John Prado, the Economist's US editor in each week we take one big theme shaping American

politics and explore it in depth. Today, what's the best way to fix American democracy?

One of the biggest economic packages in US history passed this week without any scrutiny

or input from Republicans. It's more than a decade since an act of bipartisanship in the Senate

overcame a filibuster. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House have passed HR1, a bill which includes

measures to simplify voter registration and end gerrymandering. But it won't get through

Congress as long as the Senate has the filibuster. Could a dose of reform restore America as a beacon

of democracy? In this episode, we'll hear from California Congresswoman Katie Porter who's backing

the bill and find out just how much of an outlier the filibuster is. With me as ever to discuss

all of this are Charlotte Howard, the Economist's New York Bureau Chief and John Fasman, the US

digital editor. Charlotte, what's going on in New York? Well, there's continued fallout from

...