A stellar group of America's leading political thinkers explore how to reboot our democracy The presidential election of 2016 highlighted some long-standing flaws in American democracy and added a few new ones. Across the political spectrum, most Americans do not believe that democracy is delivering on its promises of fairness, justice, shared prosperity, or security in a changing world. The nation cannot even begin to address climate change and economic justice if it remains paralyzed by political gridlock.
Democracy Unchained is about making American democracy work to solve problems that have long impaired our system of governance. The book is the collective work of thirty of the most perceptive writers, practitioners, scientists, educators, and journalists writing today, who are committed to moving the political conversation from the present anger and angst to the positive and constructive change necessary to achieve the full promise of a durable democracy that works for everyone and protects our common future. Including essays by Yasha Mounk on populism, Chisun Lee on money and politics, Ras Baraka on building democracy from the ground up, and Bill McKibben on climate, Democracy Unchained is the articulation of faith in democracy and will be required reading for all who are working to make democracy a reality.
Table of Contents Foreword
Introduction
David W. Orr Part I. The Crisis of Democracy Populism and Democracy
Yascha Mounk Reconstructing Our Constitutional Democracy
K. Sabeel Rahman Restoring Healthy Party Competition
Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson When Democracy Becomes Something Else: The Problem of Elections and What to Do About It
Andrew Gumbel The Best Answer to Money in Politics After Citizens United: Public Campaign Financing in the Empire State and Beyond
Chisun Lee Remaking the Presidency After Trump
Jeremi Suri The Problem of Presidentialism
Stephen Skowronek Part II. Foundations of Democracy Renewing the American Democratic Faith
Steven C. Rockefeller American Land, American Democracy
Eric Freyfogle Race and Democracy: The Kennedys, Obama, Trump, and Us
Michael Eric Dyson Liberty and Justice for All: Latina Activist Efforts to Strengthen Democracy in 2018
Maria Hinojosa What Black Women Teach Us About Democracy
Andra Gillespie and Nadia E. Brown Engines of Democracy: Racial Justice and Cultural Power
Rashad Robinson Civic and Environmental Education: Protecting the Planet and Our Democracy
Judy Braus The Supreme Court's Legitimacy Crisis and Constitutional Democracy's Future
Dawn Johnsen Part III. Policy Challenges Can Democracy Survive the Internet?
David Hickton The New New Deal: How to Reregulate Capitalism
Robert Kuttner First Understand Why They're Winning: How to Save Democracy from the Anti-Immigrant
Far Right
Sasha Polakow-Suransky No Time Left: How the System Is Failing to Address Our Ultimate Crisis
Bill McKibben Powering Democracy Through Clean Energy
Denise G. Fairchild The Long Crisis: American Foreign Policy Before and After Trump
Jessica Tuchman Mathews Part IV. Who Acts, and How? The Case for Strong Government
William S. Becker The States
Nick Rathod Democracy in a Struggling Swing State
Amy Hanauer Can Independent Voters Save American Democracy? Why 42 Percent of American Voters Are Independent and How They Can Transform Our Political System
Jaqueline Salit and Thom Reilly Philanthropy and Democracy
Stephen B. Heintz Keeping the Republic
Dan Moulthrop The Future of Democracy
Mayor Ras Baraka Building a University Where All People Matter
Michael M. Crow, William B. Dabars, and Derrick M. Anderson Biophilia and Direct Democracy
Timothy Beatley Purpose-Driven Capitalism
Mindy Lubber Restoring Democracy: Nature's Trust, Human Survival, and Constitutional Fiduciary Governance 397
Mary Christina Wood Conclusion
Ganesh Sitaraman
David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics, Emeritus, at Oberlin College and the co-editor (with William Becker, Andrew Gumbel, and Bakari Kitwana) of Democracy Unchained (The New Press).
Andrew Gumbel is a British-born journalist, based in Los Angeles, who has won awards for his work as an investigative reporter, a political columnist, and a feature writer. For more than twenty years he worked as a foreign correspondent for Reuters and the British newspapers The Guardian and The Independent, covering stories in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. He covered the first democratic elections in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and has frequently reported on contested or suspect elections since in Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, Haiti, and, since 2000, in the United States. He is the author of Down for the Count and Won't Lose This Dream and the co-editor (with David W. Orr, William S. Becker, and Bakari Kitwana) of Democracy Unchained, all from The New Press, and the author of Oklahoma City.
Bakari Kitwana is a journalist and activist in the area of hip-hop and black youth political engagement and a co-editor (with David Orr, William Becker, and Andrew Gumbel) of Democracy Unchained (The New Press).
William Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project and the co-editor (with David Orr, Andrew Gumbel, and Bakari Kitwana) of Democracy Unchained (The New Press).
