Democracy Betrayed

An impassioned takedown of the undemocratic features of American electoral politics and their role in the 2016 election. Americans are taught to cherish our democracy, especially our right to vote. But after the 2016 presidential election, we are confronted, yet again, with the reality that our system is neither free nor fair. Almost every step along the way is filled with intentional and unintentional pitfalls, barriers, and dysfunction. The results disadvantage, discourage, and ultimately disenfranchise, but a myth persists that our elections and democracy are exemplary. Our system is adept at pre-empting the very citizens whose participation would upend governing classes and economic elites. That’s done by making voting more complicated, less accountable and resistant to reform. Whether we’re talking about voter ID laws, superdelegates, convoluted state recount rules, or the archaic Electoral College, procedures have greater weight than democratic principles, or evidence-based determinations. Democracy Betrayed catalogs the long litany of ways our elections failed, and continue to fail, their billing as model democracy. It will look through the lens of impassioned skepticism, highlighting what went wrong and conveying why that need not be the case. More people registered to vote in 2016 than ever before, even if turnout was about the same as 2012. That shows people want a system they can believe in. This book will speak to them and show them how they can fight for a better democracy.

David Talbot is the New York Times bestselling author of Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and The Devil’s Chessboard. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon and has written for the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Time. He lives in San Francisco.

“Attempts to steal elections—successfully and unsuccessfully—are not new in American politics; but the Republican party, of late, has elevated this practice to both an art form and business model. Read this book and understand how the game is run and learn how to fight voter suppression and illegal gerrymandering, that target people of color, the young and the poor. The stakes are high as the integrity of voting rights is the bedrock of democracy.” —Arthur Blaustein, author of Make a Difference: The Ultimate Volunteer Handbook and Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport, and former Chair of the President’s National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity

“Not only are campaigns a nasty business, so too are elections themselves. We have less to worry about when there are landslides but it gets ugly and scary when the elections are close. Then we learn about dirty tricks, voter suppression, lazy poll workers, poorly trained election commissioners, and hyper-partisan election officials who serve the party above all. Steven Rosenfeld is one of the best reporters I have met in the four decades I have been around. Anyone who truly cares about our democracy has to read this book.” —John Zogby, founder of the Zogby Poll and author of We Are Many, We Are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America

“Following the 2004 stolen election, I had the privilege of cowriting books about election rigging that happened in Ohio with Steve Rosenfeld. This new book is the best single dissection of how American elections are still being rigged. His voice is factual, analytical, and essential if you want to truly understand what transpired in 2016: the nominating of the two most unpopular candidates in US history and the election of Donald Trump. He also captures the essence of the dirty deeds done during the Wisconsin recount. The book serves as a provocative cross between Hunter S. Thompson and Teddy White.” —Robert J. Fitrakis, voting rights lawyer, investigative reporter and publisher, and occasional Green candidate

“What it’s going to take for progressives to win in 2018 and beyond fills this book. For most of this decade, in too many states, the voting process has betrayed our democracy. This book breaks down that nasty history, identifies the partisan and bureaucratic obstacles, and concretely describes the turnout wave that’s needed to end up winning.” —Don Hazen, executive editor and publisher of AlterNet