Home > Videos

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ› ๏ธโฑ๏ธ๐Ÿ›๏ธ How to Rebuild American Democracy in 20 Minutes

๐Ÿค– AI Summary

๐Ÿ›๏ธ Zane Gustafson, the author of ๐Ÿ›๏ธ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Polemic for Democracy discusses the current state of the U.S. Constitution and proposes several reforms to improve American democracy [00:36].

๐Ÿ’” The speaker argues that the current system is โ€œbrokenโ€ [00:36] and that ๐Ÿ  the House of Representatives, despite being the โ€œpeopleโ€™s house,โ€ has limited power compared to the ๐Ÿ›๏ธ Senate [00:47]. โš–๏ธ The Senate, in turn, only effectively checks the executive branch when controlled by a different party [01:32].

โœจ The proposed reforms include:

  • โŒ Abolishing the Senate The speaker suggests this would empower the legislative branch (the House) to more effectively check the executive and judiciary, as originally intended [02:41].
  • โฌ†๏ธ Increasing the size of the House of Representatives The proposal is for 695 seats, which is the cube root of the U.S. population, to ensure better representation [04:15]. ๐Ÿ—“๏ธ The speaker notes that the House size has been fixed at 435 since 1920, despite significant population growth [05:13].
  • ๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Redrawing congressional districts as multi-member districts with proportional representation voting This system, using ranked-choice voting with multiple winners, would make it easier for alternative parties to gain representation and would make gerrymandering โ€œimpossibleโ€ due to the larger district populations [05:26].
  • โž• Other reforms mentioned briefly These include a popular vote for president, requiring 60% of Congress to impeach the president (instead of two-thirds), and expanding the Supreme Court to 21 justices with 21-year terms, with one justice appointed annually [13:50].

๐Ÿค The speaker concludes by emphasizing that the book from which these reforms are drawn aims to shift thinking from a two-party system to a multi-party system [10:38]. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ The video ends with a reflection on the current โ€œdistressโ€ in the country, symbolized by an upside-down American flag, and calls for learning from historical movements like the abolitionists to build a broad coalition for change [15:16].

๐Ÿ“š Book Recommendations

๐Ÿ›๏ธ On Constitutional Reform and American Democracy

  • ๐Ÿ“– Amending America: If We Love The Constitution So Much, Why Do We Keep Trying To Change It? by Richard B. Bernstein: Explores the history of U.S. constitutional amendments and proposed changes.
  • ๐Ÿ“– The Democracy Amendments: Constitutional Reforms to Save the United States by John J. Davenport: Proposes deep constitutional changes to address polarization and distrust.
  • ๐Ÿ“– Strengthening American Democracy: Reflection, Action, and Reform by John R. Baker: Discusses challenges to American democracy and reform proposals.

๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ On Electoral Systems and Proportional Representation

  • ๐Ÿ“– A Right to Representation: Proportional Election Systems for the Twenty-First Century by Kathleen L. Barber: Explores the origins and effectiveness of proportional representation.
  • ๐Ÿ“– Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation by Ismar Voliฤ‡: Examines the math behind election systems, including proportional representation.
  • ๐Ÿ“– Real Choices/New Voices: How Proportional Representation Elections Could Revitalize American Democracy by Douglas J. Amy: Explains how PR can ensure fair representation, eliminate gerrymandering, and encourage diverse parties.

๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿคโ€๐Ÿง‘ On Political Parties and the Two-Party System

  • ๐Ÿ“– A Tale of Two Parties: Living Amongst Republicans and Democrats Since 1952 by Kenneth Janda: Explains how American party politics have changed and the two-party systemโ€™s persistence.
  • ๐Ÿ“– Two Partiesโ€”or More?: The American Party System by John F. Bibby and L. Sandy Maisel: Addresses why the U.S. maintains a two-party system compared to other democracies.
  • ๐Ÿ“– The Two-party System Nobody Asked for by Bob Mills: Analyzes the Democratic and Republican parties and questions the two-party systemโ€™s overall effectiveness.

๐Ÿฆ Tweet