Download or read book Looking for Votes in All the Wrong Places written by Rick Ridder and published by Radius Book Group+ORM. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The veteran presidential campaign manager recounts his many adventures, travesties, triumphs, and lessons from more than forty years on the trail. Over his long and legendary career, campaign strategist Rick Ridder has been at the center of everything from presidential death matches to the legalization of marijuana. In this lively memoir, he recounts his life on the trail from the McGovern campaign to more recent candidates and causes. Along the way, he reveals his “twenty-two rules of campaign management”―each one illustrated by entertaining, instructive, and mostly true stories from his own experiences. Rick offers an unsparing, often hilarious self-portrait of the political guru as a young man, criss-crossing the country from one drafty campaign headquarters to the next, making mistakes and pulling rabbits out of hats, wrangling temperamental celebrities, winning some elections and losing others. Through his stories, you’ll meet the state legislature candidate who said he’d win thanks to his reputation as a judge in cat competitions; the US Senate candidate who told the Southern press, “I hate southern accents”; a young Senator Al Gore who campaigned for President in 1988 by eating his way through New York City alongside Mayor Koch; Leonard Nimoy, good-naturedly trekking through rural Wisconsin in Rick’s own Jeep because Rick was too young to rent a more appropriate vehicle; and many other colorful characters.

Download or read book Who s Counting written by John Fund and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2012 election will be one of the hardest-fought in U.S. history. It is also likely to be one of the closest, a fact that brings concerns about voter fraud and bureaucratic incompetence in the conduct of elections front and center. If we don't take notice, we could see another debacle like the Bush-Gore Florida recount of 2000 in which courts and lawyers intervened in what should have involved only voters. Who's Counting? will focus attention on many problems of our election system, ranging from voter fraud to a slipshod system of vote counting that noted political scientist Walter Dean Burnham calls “the most careless of the developed world.” In an effort to clean up our election laws, reduce fraud and increase public confidence in the integrity of the voting system, many states ranging from Georgia to Wisconsin have passed laws requiring a photo ID be shown at the polls and curbing the rampant use of absentee ballots, a tool of choice by fraudsters. The response from Obama allies has been to belittle the need for such laws and attack them as akin to the second coming of a racist tide in American life. In the summer of 2011, both Bill Clinton and DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz preposterously claimed that such laws suppressed minority voters and represented a return to the era of Jim Crow. But voter fraud is a well-documented reality in American elections. Just this year, a sheriff and county clerk in West Virginia pleaded guilty to stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent absentee ballots that changed the outcome of an election. In 2005, a state senate election in Tennessee was overturned because of voter fraud. The margin of victory? 13 votes. In 2008, the Minnesota senate race that provided the 60th vote needed to pass Obamacare was decided by a little over 300 votes. Almost 200 felons have already been convicted of voting illegally in that election and dozens of other prosecutions are still pending. Public confidence in the integrity of elections is at an all-time low. In the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of 2008, 62% of American voters thought that voter fraud was very common or somewhat common. Fear that elections are being stolen erodes the legitimacy of our government. That's why the vast majority of Americans support laws like Kansas's Secure and Fair Elections Act. A 2010 Rasmussen poll showed that 82% of Americans support photo ID laws. While Americans frequently demand observers and best practices in the elections of other countries, we are often blind to the need to scrutinize our own elections. We may pay the consequences in 2012 if a close election leads us into pitched partisan battles and court fights that will dwarf the Bush-Gore recount wars.

Download or read book Votes of Confidence 2nd Edition written by Jeff Fleischer and published by Millbrook Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every two years, media coverage of American elections turns into a horse-race story about who's leading the polls and who said what when. Give young adult readers clear explanations about how our election process actually works, why it matters, and how they can become involved. Using real-world examples and anecdotes, this book provides readers with thorough, nonpartisan explanations about primaries, the electoral college, checks and balances, polls, fundraising, and more. Updated with facts, figures, and analysis, this edition provides the next generation of voters with essential guidance about the past, present, and future of American elections. "[A] very readable, engaging, and entertaining history of American elections and politics for young people. Highly recommended."—starred, Booklist "Fleischer presents a potentially didactic subject matter in a digestible and organized manner. Recommended for middle to high school students, educators, and others interested in becoming civically informed and engaged."—School Library Journal

Download or read book The Ethics of Voting written by Jason Brennan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-29 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; INTRODUCTION: Voting as an Ethical Issue; CHAPTER ONE: Arguments for a Duty to Vote; CHAPTER TWO: Civic Virtue without Politics; CHAPTER THREE: Wrongful Voting; CHAPTER FOUR: Deference and Abstention; CHAPTER FIVE: For the Common Good; CHAPTER SIX: Buying and Selling Votes; CHAPTER SEVEN: How Well Do Voters Behave?; AFTERWORD TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION: How to Vote Well; Notes; References; Index. - Nothing is more integral to democracy than voting. Most people believe that every citizen has the civic duty or moral obligation to vote, that any sincere vote is morally acceptable, and that buying, selling, or trading votes is inherently wrong. In this provocative book, Jason Brennan challenges our fundamental assumptions about voting, revealing why it is not a duty for most citizens--in fact, he argues, many people owe it to the rest of us not to vote. Bad choices at the polls can result in unjust laws, needless wars, and calamitous economic policies. Brennan shows why voters have duties to.

Download or read book Wars Guns and Votes written by Paul Collier and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-01-23 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Collier has made a substantial contribution to current discussions. His evidence-based approach is a worthwhile corrective to the assumptions about democracy that too often tend to dominate when Western policy makers talk about the bottom billion.” —The New York Times Book Review “Before President Obama makes a move he would do well to read Professor Paul Collier’s Wars, Guns, and Votes. . . Unlike many academics Collier comes up with very concrete proposals and some ingenious solutions.” — The Times (London) In Wars, Guns, and Votes, esteemed author Paul Collier offers a groundbreaking, radical look at the world’s most violent, corrupt societies, how they got that way, and what can be done to break the cycle. George Soros calls Paul Collier “one of the most original minds in the world today,” and Wars, Guns, and Votes, like Collier’s previous award-winning book The Bottom Billion, is essential reading for anyone interested in current events, war, poverty, economics, or international business.

Download or read book Securing the Vote written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 2016 presidential election, America's election infrastructure was targeted by actors sponsored by the Russian government. Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the challenges arising out of the 2016 federal election, assesses current technology and standards for voting, and recommends steps that the federal government, state and local governments, election administrators, and vendors of voting technology should take to improve the security of election infrastructure. In doing so, the report provides a vision of voting that is more secure, accessible, reliable, and verifiable.

Download or read book Let the People Pick the President written by Jesse Wegman and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Wegman combines in-depth historical analysis and insight into contemporary politics to present a cogent argument that the Electoral College violates America’s ‘core democratic principles’ and should be done away with..." —Publishers Weekly The framers of the Constitution battled over it. Lawmakers have tried to amend or abolish it more than 700 times. To this day, millions of voters, and even members of Congress, misunderstand how it works. It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic principles of political equality and majority rule. How can we tolerate the Electoral College when every vote does not count the same, and the candidate who gets the most votes can lose? Twice in the last five elections, the Electoral College has overridden the popular vote, calling the integrity of the entire system into question—and creating a false picture of a country divided into bright red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. Even when the popular-vote winner becomes president, tens of millions of Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—find that their votes didn't matter. And, with statewide winner-take-all rules, only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president. Now, as political passions reach a boiling point at the dawn of the 2020 race, the message from the American people is clear: The way we vote for the only official whose job it is to represent all Americans is neither fair nor just. Major reform is needed—now. Isn't it time to let the people pick the president? In this thoroughly researched and engaging call to arms, Supreme Court journalist and New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from twenty-first-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. In Let the People Pick the President he shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count—and restore belief in our democratic system.

Download or read book All the Wrong Places written by James Fenton and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike any Vietnam coverage ever read, Fenton's reporting from the abandoned American embassy in Saigon is typical of his in-the-middle-of-it-all view of Cambodia, Siagon, the Philippines, and Korea.

Download or read book What s the Matter with Kansas written by Thomas Frank and published by Picador. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of "our most insightful social observers"* cracks the great political mystery of our time: how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank turns his eye on what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"—the populist revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment. The high point of that backlash is the Republican Party's success in building the most unnatural of alliances: between blue-collar Midwesterners and Wall Street business interests, workers and bosses, populists and right-wingers. In asking "what 's the matter with Kansas?"—how a place famous for its radicalism became one of the most conservative states in the union—Frank, a native Kansan and onetime Republican, seeks to answer some broader American riddles: Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests? Where's the outrage at corporate manipulators? And whatever happened to middle-American progressivism? The questions are urgent as well as provocative. Frank answers them by examining pop conservatism—the bestsellers, the radio talk shows, the vicious political combat—and showing how our long culture wars have left us with an electorate far more concerned with their leaders' "values" and down-home qualities than with their stands on hard questions of policy. A brilliant analysis—and funny to boot—What's the Matter with Kansas? presents a critical assessment of who we are, while telling a remarkable story of how a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs came to convince a nation that they spoke on behalf of the People. *Los Angeles Times

Download or read book The Quotable Hitchens written by Windsor Mann and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past few decades, the bestselling author of Hitch-22 has crisscrossed the globe debating religious scholars, Catholic clergy, rabbis, and devout Christians on the existence of God -- appearances that have attracted thousands of people on both sides of the issue. He has been invited to talk shows and events to discuss everything from the death of Jerry Falwell to the sainthood of Mother Teresa, from U.S. policy in the Middle East to the dangers of religious fundamentalism and beyond. And he is always armed with pithy discourse that is as intelligent as it is quotable. The Quotable Hitchens gathers for the first time the eminent journalist, public intellectual, and all-around provocateur Christopher Hitchen's most scathing, inflammatory, hilarious, and clear-cut commentary from the course of his storied career. Drawn from his many TV appearances, debates, lectures, interviews, articles, and books, the quotations are arranged alphabetically by subject -- from atheism and alcoholism to George Orwell and Bertrand Russell, from Islamofascism and Iraq to smoking and sex.

Download or read book The Expanding Boundaries of Black Politics written by Georgia A. Persons and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume joins the preceding volumes in this distinguished series in presenting contemporary research by leading political scientists addressing topics of interest to those concerned with African-American affairs. It captures the expanding boundaries of black politics and the persistent interests of the black community at large. The anchoring symposium, "The Expanding Boundaries of Black Politics," presents the scholarship of a cadre of young black political scientists actively engaged in the critical tasks of moving forward the study of black politics. Their concerns include expanding the boundaries of black politics along the lines of epistemology and methodology, especially in regard to core issues and areas within this field. In an introductory essay by Todd Shaw, the work of these scholars is situated within the context of temporal shifts in scholarly emphases. Overlapping issues and concerns across time as well as black political scholarship as defined in the field since its beginning are addressed. The second part of this volume, entitled "Maximizing the Black Vote; Recognizing the Limits of Electoral Politics," concentrates on serious lingering social concerns. These include the policy significance of black mayors affecting the concomitant impact of the black vote, the boundaries being pushed concerning the conjunction of black theology and sexual identity, a gendered analysis of familial policies, and the deepening social and economic plight of young black males including felon disfranchisement. The Expanding Boundaries of Black Politics carries forth the search for an understanding of the relationship between religion, the black church, and black political behavior; cross-racial group coalitions as concerns matters of immigration, growing multiculturalism, and the impact on black politics; maximizing the impact of the black vote focusing on voting rights enforcement, the black vote in presidential elections, and the voice of the Congressional Black Caucus in American foreign policy; and persistent social inequalities especially as it concerns ideology, federalism, and social welfare policy.

Download or read book Armey s Axioms written by Dick Armey and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2007-08-24 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaim for Armey's Axioms "As I read Armey’s Axioms, my mind immediately went to the man from Springfield, Abraham Lincoln, who cloaked brilliant wisdom with grace and good humor that had its roots in the heartland of America. Without question, Dick Armey is one of the most brilliant and principled men ever to serve in the leadership of the United States House of Representatives. His axioms are a delightful read for anyone seeking to understand the faith, the patriotism, and the integrity that has made America great." –Dr. M. G. "Pat" Robertson "In Armey’s Axioms, Dick Armey gives us more than his great sense of humor and Texas-size common sense. With a creative and personal touch, it is the best advice I’ve seen for those who want to make it in Washington, and even better for those who want to make it in life." –Bob Dole "We Americans like to cut to the chase when it comes to difficult issues. In Armey’s Axioms, Dick Armey does just that. By skillfully breaking down complex social and moral issues, he presents us with such simple and direct answers that it’s hard not to agree with his logic. Wrapped in wry wit and humor, the book is wise, insightful, and above all, compelling." –Marlin Maddoux President, National Center for Freedom & Renewal host, Point of View radio talk show "In just ten years, Dick Armey moved from C-SPAN viewer to Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. In Armey’s Axioms he presents some of the lessons he has learned from his years in the House and from country music. . . . It’s a good read, packed with good advice." –Michael Barone U.S. News & World Report coauthor, The Almanac of American Politics

Download or read book Gerrymandering written by Stephen K. Medvic and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly as long as there have been electoral districts in America, politicians have gerrymandered those districts. Though the practice has changed over time, the public reaction to it has remained the same: gerrymandering is reviled. There is, of course, good reason for that sentiment. Gerrymandering is intended to maximize the number of legislative seats for one party. As such, it is an attempt to gain what appears to be an unfair advantage in elections. Nevertheless, gerrymandering is not well understood by most people and this lack of understanding leads to a false sense that there are easy solutions to this complex problem. Gerrymandering: The Politics of Redistricting in the United States unpacks the complicated process of gerrymandering, reflecting upon the normative issues to which it gives rise. Tracing the history of partisan gerrymandering from its nineteenth-century roots to the present day, the book explains its legal status and implementation, its consequences, and possible options for reform. The result is a balanced analysis of gerrymandering that acknowledges its troubling aspects while recognizing that, as long as district boundaries have to be drawn, there is no perfect way to do so.

Download or read book What s Law Got to Do With It written by Charles Geyh and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers perspectives from political scientists, legal scholars, and practicing judges as they seek to answer the question of how much law actually has to do with judicial behavior and decision-making, and what it means for society at large.

Download or read book Partisan Supremacy written by Terri Jennings Peretti and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I have no agenda,” US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts proclaimed at his Senate confirmation hearing: “My job is to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.” This declaration was in keeping with the avowed independence of the judiciary. It also, when viewed through the lens of Roberts’s election law decisions, appears to be false. With a scrupulous reading of judicial decisions and a careful assessment of partisan causes and consequences, Terri Jennings Peretti tells the story of the GOP’s largely successful campaign to enlist judicial aid for its self-interested election reform agenda. Partisan Supremacy explores four contemporary election law issues—voter identification, gerrymandering, campaign finance, and the preclearance regime of the Voting Rights Act—to uncover whether Republican politicians and Republican judges have collaborated to tilt America’s election rules in the GOP’s favor. Considering cases from Shelby County v. Holder, which enfeebled the Voting Rights Act, to Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, which upheld restrictive voter identification laws, to Citizens United and McCutcheon, which loosened campaign finance restrictions, Peretti lays bare the reality of “friendly” judicial review and partisan supremacy when it comes to election law. She nonetheless finds a mixed verdict in the redistricting area that reveals the limits of partisan control over judicial decisions. Peretti’s book helpfully places the current GOP’s voter suppression campaign in historical context by acknowledging similar efforts by the postCivil War Democratic Party. While the modern Democratic Party seeks electoral advantage by expanding voting by America’s minorities and youth, arguably hewing closer to democratic principles, neither party is immune to the powerful incentive to bend election rules in its favor. In view of the evidence that Partisan Supremacy brings to light, we are left with a critical and pressing question: Can democracy survive in the face of partisan collaboration across the branches of government on critical election issues?

Download or read book Against Democracy written by Jason Brennan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.

Download or read book The Steward s Way written by C. Justin Clements and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1997 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These helpful essays have been grouped into topical categories ranging from basic concepts of stewardship to parish and personal issues in stewardship, as well as an exploration of stewardship of time and talent, and finally a look at stewardship of treasure. An altogether helpful resource for anyone involved in making stewardship a reality in the life of the church.