Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone

This is a tour of what democracy means to people past and present. Focuses a lot on American ideas of democracy and promised not fulfilled in this area but also touches on other kinds of democracy tried in the past. It features an examination in detail of some contrasts that are experienced in democracy.

When we say democracy is government of the people, who are the people? In the US, it has gone from white male land-owners to somewhat universal suffrage for any adult. This book looks at not only this idea of changing who the people are but also looks at tricks that are played to make it so that one person's vote isn't equal to other people's votes and how layers of friction are added to make it so that people in power try to keep power.

Another major contrast that is examined in detail is how the people's vote may be overridden with the systems we have in place, both by different layers of government and also by financial coercion by foreign holders of capital and debt.

There is little suggestion of how to form a more perfect union. I do remember proportional representation by party as seen in some parliamentary western nations being held up as solving some of the problems seen by gerrymandering, but really I don't recall other gleam's of hope. It is a long catalog of horrors.