2019, ISBN: 9780674974142

With every presidential election, Americans puzzle over the peculiar mechanism of the Electoral College. The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring proble… Mehr…

With every presidential election, Americans puzzle over the peculiar mechanism of the Electoral College. The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring problem of this controversial institution. Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through the Electoral College, an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Most Americans would prefer a national popular vote, and Congress has attempted on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College. Several of these efforts—one as recently as 1970—came very close to winning approval. Yet this controversial system remains. Alexander Keyssar explains its persistence. After tracing the Electoral College’s tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2019 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has thus far failed. Reasons include the tendency of political parties to elevate partisan advantage above democratic values, the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, and, especially, the impulse to preserve white supremacy in the South, which led to the region’s prolonged backing of the Electoral College. The most common explanation—that small states have blocked reform for fear of losing influence—has only occasionally been true. Keyssar examines why reform of the Electoral College has received so little attention from Congress for the last forty years, as well as alternatives to congressional action such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and state efforts to eliminate winner-take-all. In analyzing the reasons for past failures while showing how close the nation has come to abolishing the institution, Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? offers encouragement to those hoping to produce change in the twenty-first century. Digital Content>E-books>Current Affairs>Domestic Affairs>Domestic Affairs, Harvard University Press Digital >16<

ISBN: 9780674974142

A New Statesman Book of the Year"America's greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy-the electoral col… Mehr…

A New Statesman Book of the Year"America's greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy-the electoral college...A brilliant contribution to a critical current debate."-Lawrence Lessig, author of They Don't Represent UsEvery four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Congress has tried on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College, and in this master class in American political history, a renowned Harvard professor explains its confounding persistence.After tracing the tangled origins of the Electoral College back to the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Keyssar outlines the constant stream of efforts since then to abolish or reform it. Why have they all failed? The complexity of the design and partisan one-upmanship have a lot to do with it, as do the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments and the South's long history of restrictive voting laws. By revealing the reasons for past failures and showing how close we've come to abolishing the Electoral College, Keyssar offers encouragement to those hoping for change."Conclusively demonstrates the absurdity of preserving an institution that has been so contentious throughout U.S. history and has not infrequently produced results that defied the popular will."-Michael Kazin, The Nation"Rigorous and highly readable...shows how the electoral college has endured despite being reviled by statesmen from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson to Edward Kennedy, Bob Dole, and Gerald Ford."-Lawrence Douglas, Times Literary Supplement; EPUB; History & Transport > Humanities > Regional & national history > History of the Americas, Harvard University Press<

ISBN: 9780674974142

A New Statesman Book of the Year"America's greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy-the electoral col… Mehr…

A New Statesman Book of the Year"America's greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy-the electoral college."-Lawrence Lessig, author of They Don't Represent UsEvery four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Congress has tried on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College, and in this master class in American political history, a renowned Harvard professor explains its confounding persistence.After tracing the tangled origins of the Electoral College back to the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Keyssar outlines the constant stream of efforts since then to abolish or reform it. Why have they all failed? The complexity of the design and partisan one-upmanship have a lot to do with it, as do the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments and the South's long history of restrictive voting laws. By revealing the reasons for past failures and showing how close we've come to abolishing the Electoral College, Keyssar offers encouragement to those hoping for change."Conclusively demonstrates the absurdity of preserving an institution that has been so contentious throughout U.S. history and has not infrequently produced results that defied the popular will."-Michael Kazin, The Nation"Rigorous and highly readable...shows how the electoral college has endured despite being reviled by statesmen from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson to Edward Kennedy, Bob Dole, and Gerald Ford."-Lawrence Douglas, Times Literary Supplement; EPUB; Politics, Philosphy & Religion > Politics & government, Harvard University Press<

2020, ISBN: 9780674974142

eBooks, eBook Download (EPUB), [PU: Harvard University Press], Harvard University Press, 2020