Ending the Hidden Unfairness in U.S. Elections
Title | Ending the Hidden Unfairness in U.S. Elections PDF eBook |
Author | Richard Fobes |
Publisher | Solutions Through Innovation |
Pages | 412 |
Release | 2006 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0963222120 |
Frustrated voters can now take action to reduce the big gap between what voters want and politicians do. This book explains how VoteFair ranking can eliminate a hidden unfairness in U.S. elections. The unfairness is hidden in primary elections where the winner is always from the correct party, but is often disliked by a majority of the voters. Traditional single-mark ballots don't provide information about secondary preferences, so the frequent lack of majority support for the winner of a primary election typically goes unnoticed. VoteFair ranking makes use of order-of-preference ballots that allow each voter to indicate not only a first choice, but also a second choice, third choice, and so on. VoteFair ranking counts these ballots in a way that not only correctly identifies which candidate is most popular, but also indicates which candidate is second-most popular, which candidate is third-most popular, and so on. An existing voting method called instant runoff voting also uses ballots that collect secondary preferences, but voting experts acknowledge that sometimes instant runoff voting identifies the wrong winner. The book's author, Richard Fobes, says "VoteFair ranking takes into account all the preferences of all the voters, which makes the results fairer than instant runoff voting, which only considers some of the secondary preferences of some of the voters." Ending The Hidden Unfairness In U.S. Elections contains 85 illustrations of candidates, ballots, voters, and voter preferences that clearly show the unfairness of current voting methods and the fairness of VoteFair ranking. The book also contains eight cartoons and a poem. At the front of the book are suggestions for how to read only portions of the book. The suggestions include reading the introductory chapter that summarizes the book's most important points, just reading the two chapters that explain order-of-preference ballots and VoteFair ranking, just reading the chapters that explain how U.S. Presidential elections can be improved, or just reading the closing chapter that takes a peek into the future to reveal the increased economic prosperity that will flourish under fairer voting methods. The longer you wait to tell others about this book and VoteFair ranking, the longer we must put up with special-interest puppets instead of voter-chosen leaders.
The People’s Constitution
Title | The People’s Constitution PDF eBook |
Author | John F. Kowal |
Publisher | The New Press |
Pages | 493 |
Release | 2021-09-21 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1620975629 |
The 233-year story of how the American people have taken an imperfect constitution—the product of compromises and an artifact of its time—and made it more democratic Who wrote the Constitution? That’s obvious, we think: fifty-five men in Philadelphia in 1787. But much of the Constitution was actually written later, in a series of twenty-seven amendments enacted over the course of two centuries. The real history of the Constitution is the astonishing story of how subsequent generations have reshaped our founding document amid some of the most colorful, contested, and controversial battles in American political life. It’s a story of how We the People have improved our government’s structure and expanded the scope of our democracy during eras of transformational social change. The People’s Constitution is an elegant, sobering, and masterly account of the evolution of American democracy. From the addition of the Bill of Rights, a promise made to save the Constitution from near certain defeat, to the post–Civil War battle over the Fourteenth Amendment, from the rise and fall of the “noble experiment” of Prohibition to the defeat and resurgence of an Equal Rights Amendment a century in the making, The People’s Constitution is the first book of its kind: a vital guide to America’s national charter, and an alternative history of the continuing struggle to realize the Framers’ promise of a more perfect union.
The Sum of Us
Title | The Sum of Us PDF eBook |
Author | Heather McGhee |
Publisher | One World |
Pages | 465 |
Release | 2022-02-08 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0525509585 |
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • One of today’s most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color. WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. magazine, BookRiot, Library Journal “This is the book I’ve been waiting for.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist Look for the author’s podcast, The Sum of Us, based on this book! Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL
Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election
Title | Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election PDF eBook |
Author | United States Commission on Civil Rights |
Publisher | |
Pages | 154 |
Release | 2001 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
The Fight to Vote
Title | The Fight to Vote PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Waldman |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Pages | 448 |
Release | 2022-01-18 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1982198931 |
On cover, the word "right" has an x drawn over the letter "r" with the letter "f" above it.
Election Interference
Title | Election Interference PDF eBook |
Author | Jens David Ohlin |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 233 |
Release | 2020-07-16 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1108861326 |
Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election produced the biggest political scandal in a generation, marking the beginning of an ongoing attack on democracy. In the run-up to the 2020 election, Russia was found to have engaged in more “information operations,” a practice that has been increasingly adopted by other countries. In Election Interference, Jens David Ohlin makes the case that these operations violate international law, not as a cyberwar or a violation of sovereignty, but as a profound assault on democratic values protected by the international legal order under the rubric of self-determination. He argues that, in order to confront this new threat to democracy, countries must prohibit outsiders from participating in elections, enhance transparency on social media platforms, and punish domestic actors who solicit foreign interference. This important book should be read by anyone interested in protecting election integrity in our age of social media disinformation.
The Politics Industry
Title | The Politics Industry PDF eBook |
Author | Katherine M. Gehl |
Publisher | Harvard Business Press |
Pages | 331 |
Release | 2020-06-23 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1633699242 |
Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.