Every article about the midterms seems to say two things at once: this is the most important election of our lifetime, and Congress is broken. Patricia Foster, a retired attorney in Cincinnati, got so worn out by the panic that she went looking for a better answer than “elect the right people.” Her book, Just 20: How Ordinary People Can Make Our Government Work Again, is what she found.

The problem isn’t the people. Most of us like our own representative. The problem is the rules. In the House, bills default to the trash can. They go to committee and never come out, or come out and never reach the floor, because one person, the Speaker, decides. Discharge petitions and consensus bills are Hail Marys that require members to defy their own leadership. Patricia wants a boring default instead: if a bill has broad support, it gets debated, amended, and voted on. Not a promised outcome. A process.

Here’s the leverage. Every January 3rd, the House starts over. New Speaker, new rules, and a few weeks of horse-trading to get there. With majorities this slim, 20 members, from either party, could make that rules change the price of their vote. And the voters it takes to elect those 20 would fit in two football stadiums.

So ask your candidates one thing: will you actually legislate? You can send them a free copy of the book, with your own note, at wecanfixcongress.com.

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