Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics PB

BOOK COVER......Page 1
HALF-TITLE......Page 2
TITLE......Page 4
COPYRIGHT......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
PROLOGUE......Page 8
PART ONE Geography Is Destiny......Page 18
The Geographic Divide......Page 19
The Geography of Division......Page 22
The Land of New Goreia......Page 25
The New Berlin Wall......Page 29
The Paralysis of the Two-Party System......Page 32
UnElection 2000: Paralysis in the Presidency......Page 36
Affirmative Action for Conservatives......Page 40
The Shrinking Battlefield......Page 41
Pulling Back the Curtain on Domestic War......Page 44
“Good fences make good neighbors…”......Page 46
Fuller representation in the heartland......Page 49
The Pedigree of Winner Take All......Page 52
The Mechanics of Winner Take All......Page 54
The Winner Take All Conundrum......Page 56
Phantom Representation......Page 58
Artificial majorities that distort policy......Page 61
Swing voter serenade: the mighty roar of swing voters......Page 65
Two-Choice Tango......Page 67
Winner Take All—Does the “majority rule”?......Page 70
PART TWO The People’s Congress?......Page 73
CHAPTER FOUR The People’s House......Page 74
Intensity versus preference in The People’s House......Page 81
“My fellow Americans…”......Page 85
CHAPTER FIVE Behind Closed Doors......Page 88
The Incumbent Protection Racket......Page 89
Monopoly Politics......Page 93
The New Redistricting Technologies: “Politicians choosing their voters”......Page 96
Choiceless elections: Watching Your Vote Disappear......Page 97
CHAPTER SIX The Gravity of the Prize......Page 103
The Hidden National Election......Page 106
The GOP Power Surge......Page 108
Race and Redistricting: a Voting Rights Act at war with itself......Page 110
The Undermining of Campaign Finance Reform......Page 116
The Captains of Cash and Soft Money Kings......Page 120
Dubious Democracy in the 21st Century......Page 123
CHAPTER SEVEN Worse Than Winner Take All......Page 127
Big State versus Little State......Page 129
“Affirmative Action” Quotas for Conservatives......Page 132
What the Framers meant…or thought they meant......Page 136
The Framers’ Folly in the 21st Century......Page 140
The Ticking Time Bomb......Page 142
PART THREE The Death of Discourse......Page 145
CHAPTER EIGHT Of Pollster-geists and Consultants......Page 146
The Winner Take All incentive......Page 150
The Mad Scientists of Winner Take All Campaigns......Page 151
Polling......Page 154
Focus groups......Page 156
Dial meter groups......Page 158
The 30-Second TV Spot......Page 159
Targeted direct mail and pre-recorded phone messages......Page 161
Push-polling......Page 163
The future of targeting and campaigning technology......Page 164
“Simulated responsiveness” and “crafted talk”......Page 165
Decline in voter turnout and activism......Page 166
Weakening of civil society......Page 167
CHAPTER NINE The Wizards behind the Curtain......Page 169
Election 2000: a case study of the ill-fated future of Winner Take All campaigns......Page 172
George W.Bush: the “anti-poll” poll-driven politician......Page 174
Truth or Consequences......Page 178
The Triumph of Cynicism......Page 180
CHAPTER TEN The Winner Take All Media......Page 183
The Great Free Press—or the Media Monopoly?......Page 188
The death of political discourse......Page 191
The Perils of “Bottom Line” Journalism......Page 196
The future of the Winner Take All media......Page 200
CHAPTER ELEVEN Caught between a Poll and a Hard Focus Group......Page 202
Labor and trade policy......Page 203
Food safety......Page 207
Energy policy......Page 208
Healthcare......Page 209
Demographic Dropouts: low income and young voters......Page 210
Third parties: the laboratory for new ideas......Page 213
The Prospects of Multiparty Democracy under Winner Take All......Page 216
PART FOUR Majority Rule? Or Majority Fooled?......Page 220
CHAPTER TWELVE Winner Take All Policy......Page 221
Arrow, Downs, Hotelling, and vendors on the beach......Page 222
The strip-mining of Downs......Page 224
The incongruous Congress......Page 229
Comparative clues from other democracies......Page 231
Introducing: the Winner Take All policy goblins......Page 233
Pit bulls on the prowl, end-of-the-decade calculations: impact on impeachment—“if you lose, I win”......Page 237
Pork barrel politics, pigs at the trough: Impact on Budget Appropriations......Page 239
More pigs at the trough: Impact on Military Appropriations......Page 241
Bumper-sticker politics and electoral positioning: impact on Social Security—“Our party is for old people, theirs isn’t” .........Page 244
Simulated responsiveness, intensity versus preference: the 2001 Tax Cut......Page 247
Simulated Responsiveness: election year sop—anti-crime legislation......Page 249
Simulated responsiveness mows down minimum wage: the poor snagged in the Winner Take All war......Page 250
Geographic polarization: Cities versus suburbs......Page 252
Geographic polarization: agricultural policy— “Even the pigs have lobbyists”......Page 254
The Winner Take All Congress: bitter partisans in the People’s House......Page 256
CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Gatekeepers of Winner Take All......Page 259
The American Blind Spot......Page 264
Winner Take All analysis, M.I.A.......Page 268
18th-Century Technology in the 21st Century......Page 271
CHAPTER FIFTEEN “Winner Takes Nothing”......Page 273
The Way Forward......Page 282
Full representation across the United States......Page 285
The fork in the Road......Page 287
A Democratic Vision for the Twenty-First Century......Page 289
EPILOGUE......Page 292
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 295
NOTES......Page 298
BIBLIOGRAPHY/RESOURCES......Page 357
Web sites......Page 358
INDEX......Page 359