Product Description

Was the lesson of Florida punch-cards that we need better machines, or that there's something deeply wrong with a system where the candidate with fewer votes wins the office? "Fixing Elections" shows why it's not just the Electoral College that's outdated, but our entire 18th-century Winner Take All political system, including the way we elect our legislatures.

While voter turnout plummets to single digits (even episodes of "Survivor" drew larger audiences than cast votes for either Gore or Bush), analysts have blamed the growing apathy of the American electorate. But as provocative political critic Steven Hill so eloquently argues, we're not a lazier, less civic-minded people than our grandparents. Voting just seems pointless to many citizens because they recognize the truth: their votes really DON'T count.

A vote for Nader may have been a wasted vote, but so was a vote for Gore in solidly GOP Texas, or Bush in Democratic New York, where the state's winner was a foregone conclusion. In legislatures, rigged district lines render impotent the votes of millions of Americans, Democrat, Republican and independent alike. Democrats in safe GOP legislative districts all across the West and South, and GOP voters in safe urban Democratic districts, have become "orphaned voters" with nowhere to turn, no less than third party supporters everywhere. Entire regions of the country are becoming balkanized political monocultures, dominated by one political party or the other as the political landscape fragments into the "Red and Blue America" that emerged from Election 2000.

Steven Hill argues our geographic-based, Winner Take All political system is at the root of many of our worst political problems, including:

* Single-digit voter turnout in elections all across the nation...

* A Congress that doesn't look or think like America...

* National policy dangerously adrift from public opinion...

* A president who won with less than a popular majority, and fewer votes than his main opponent...

* A growing divide between city-dwellers and middle-America...

* Bitter national division and regional fragmentation that hasn't been seen since the 1960s...

* Political consultants producing McCampaigns of poll-tested blandness...

* Campaign tricks and tactics (polling, focus groups, and the 30 second TV spot) sinisterly suited to Winner Take All's "divide and conquer" incentives...

* Undermining of campaign finance reform...

* An alarming loss of innovative political ideas...

These are some of the disturbing trends highlighted by this pathbreaking and challenging work of political analysis and deconstruction. In the face of cynicism about the American political system, "Fixing Elections" is a refreshing blueprint to resurrect our founders' democratic vision. It will change the way you think about American politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #900798 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Library Journal
The cofounder and associate director of the Center for Voting and Democracy (www.fairvote.org) and author of Whose Vote Counts and numerous articles on the electoral system, Hill here presents an analysis of the current winner-take-all electoral system in the United States. He examines how this two-party system affects voter participation, legislative representation, political campaigns, and legislative policies. Hill's argument that the United States should change its electoral arrangement to a proportional system is convincing, but the narrative style and "cute" phrasing (e.g., Bushlandia) is not only awkward but detracts from the seriousness of the subject. The book contains an excellent bibliography and notes section. Academic libraries with strong political science collections may want to add this title to their collections. Others may prefer books that are easier to understand, such as Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward's Why American's Don't Vote or Why American's Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want It That Way. Joyce Cox, Nevada State Lib. and Archives, Reno
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Fixing Elections is a provocative reminder that we desperately need to re-invigorate our democracy." -- Lani Guinier, author and law professor, Harvard University

"Fixing Elections is the most important book on American democracy that has come out in many years." -- Michael Lind, author

"Here's the eye-opening news from Steven Hill's new book: our 'winner-take-all' system is making losers of us all." -- Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker

"In this powerfully argued and engaging book, Steven Hill demonstrates how our Winner-Take-All system produces highly undemocratic results." -- Robert Dahl, political scientist, Yale University

"Steven Hill is making the case for real reform of America's decayed democracy." -- William Greider, author, The Nation

Here's the eye-opening news from Steven Hill's new book: our 'winner-take-all' electoral system is a mug's game that makes losers of us all. He explains why-convincingly. And he tells us what we can do about it. -- Hendrik Hertzberg, Senior Editor, The New Yorker
Fixing Elections is the most important book on American democracy that has come out in many years. -- Michael Lind, author of Made In Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics
In this powerfully argued and engaging book, Steven Hill successfully demonstrates how our Winner-Take-All electoral system produces highly undemocratic results. His work should inspire serious and widespread discussion of alternative electoral arrangements that are far more democratic and have long been employed in almost all of the other advanced democratic countries. -- Robert A. Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale University
Fixing Elections is a provocative reminder that we desperately need to re-invigorate our democracy. By cataloguing the elements of the crisis facing our divided polity, from orphaned voters to a far-reaching political depression, Steven Hill shows how crucial it is to explore the unfairness of our electoral system's underlying structure rather than simply working to reform the mechanics of voting. -- Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard University
What's wrong with politics in America? What explains our abysmal voter turnouts -- down, according to one international study, to 138th in the world, sandwiched between Botswana and Chad? Why are vast segments of the country political wastelands for one party or the other?Why are so many million voters orphaned in states where the candidates they prefer are likely never to win? Political analyst Steven Hill offers up a single answer in his new book, Fixing Elections --it's the winner-take-all system of elections. -- Neal Peirce, Houston Chronicle
Steven Hill is making the case for real reform of America's decayed democracy -- changes that will actually give weight to every vote cast and begin the hard process of convincing Americans of every persuasion that their votes really can matter. -- William Greider, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation
For the past decade, Steven Hill's analysis, commentary and activism have helped shape pro-democracy work in the United States. -- Katrina vanden Heuvel
As the pamphlet Common Sense was to the American revolution, so Fixing Elections could be to the movement for alternative voting systems in our day...It deserves the widest readership possible. -- Richard Winger, Ballot Access News

Heres the eye-opening news from Steven Hills new book: our winner-take-all electoral system is a mugs game that makes losers of us all. He explains why-convincingly. And he tells us what we can do about it. -- Hendrik Hertzberg, Senior Editor, The New Yorker
Fixing Elections is the most important book on American democracy that has come out in many years. -- Michael Lind, author of Made In Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics
In this powerfully argued and engaging book, Steven Hill successfully demonstrates how our Winner-Take-All electoral system produces highly undemocratic results. His work should inspire serious and widespread discussion of alternative electoral arrangements that are far more democratic and have long been employed in almost all of the other advanced democratic countries. -- Robert A. Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale University
Fixing Elections is a provocative reminder that we desperately need to re-invigorate our democracy. By cataloguing the elements of the crisis facing our divided polity, from orphaned voters to a far-reaching political depression, Steven Hill shows how crucial it is to explore the unfairness of our electoral systems underlying structure rather than simply working to reform the mechanics of voting. -- Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard University
Whats wrong with politics in America? What explains our abysmal voter turnouts -- down, according to one international study, to 138th in the world, sandwiched between Botswana and Chad? Why are vast segments of the country political wastelands for one party or the other?Why are so many million voters orphaned in states where the candidates they prefer are likely never to win? Political analyst Steven Hill offers up a single answer in his new book, Fixing Elections --its the winner-take-all system of elections. -- Neal Peirce, Houston Chronicle
Steven Hill is making the case for real reform of Americas decayed democracy -- changes that will actually give weight to every vote cast and begin the hard process of convincing Americans of every persuasion that their votes really can matter. -- William Greider, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation
For the past decade, Steven Hills analysis, commentary and activism have helped shape pro-democracy work in the United States. -- Katrina vanden Heuvel
As the pamphlet Common Sense was to the American revolution, so Fixing Elections could be to the movement for alternative voting systems in our day...It deserves the widest readership possible. -- Richard Winger, Ballot Access News

From the Publisher
"This book will change the way you think about American politics."

Customer Reviews

Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All P
Fixing Elections hits the nail right on the head! Steven Hill is an insightful, clever, and engaging writer who reveals in page after page, the many faultlines in the way we elect our public officials.

Hill's analysis is unique and refreshing -- and accessible. He dissects the American political and election system with the acumen of a political scholar, the tenacity of a man on a mission, but most importantly, with the clarity of a popular writer. Fixing Elections is an engaging and lively book that points to deep flaws in our elections and important directions for reformers to take.

This should be required reading for U.S. political science classes, and should be offered in our high schools as well. If you care about creating an engaged citizenry, a strong democracy and an accountable government, READ THIS BOOK!

READ THIS BOOK!!! A real eye opener!
This book is the "Silent Spring" of our political system. It's full of facts and anecdotes that will make you astonished and wondering why everyone is not apalled and talking about these failures of our system and how we can change it. Everyone knows that something is very wrong with our flailing democracy and the people at the helm, but Hill has really exposed the under belly that rarely gets talked about. He is helping us to see how the U. S. electoral system's failure has permeated the very fabric of our policy decisions and lead to citizen non-participation and despair. Each chapter is well written, compelling, eye opening and revelatory. I am still thinking deeply about the implications of Fixing Elections' arguments and know that this is essential information for the future if we are to survive as a democracy.

The most amazing book
I would give it six stars if I could. This is the most insightful book on American politics I have ever read. It transformed how I look at politics in this country. So much of what ails our democracy -- low participation, poor representation, poor quality of campaigns, policy that doesn't reflect what the majority of Americans want, partisan bickering and polarization,on and on -- the author brilliantly shows how it can all be traced back to the Winner Take All political system we use in the U.S. ONe of the most interesting riffs was how much of what we usually attribute to a lack of campaign finance reform -- lack of political competition, or choice for voters, or accountability -- is really more directly impacted by the incentives of the Winner Take All system. Fascinating.

If you read one book on politics this year, make it this one.