THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE

New Republic political writer Nwanevu offers remedies for an ailing American democracy.

Democracy is in a bad way: That’s the well-worn thesis of so many books of political commentary these days. It’s so, Nwanevu ventures, in part because American democracy as it is now constituted has allowed undemocratic forces to seize it. If the “best-plain English…definition is still Abraham Lincoln’s,” promoting government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then we’re far from it, owing to anachronisms such as the Electoral College and to deep swamps of misinformation. It’s cheering to note, on the latter point, that by Nwanevu’s account, most of the polls decrying Americans’ lack of political knowledge are cherry-picked: Neutral polls suggest that a majority do in fact know that, for instance, the Cold War was a “fight against communism,” can name the three branches of government, and so on. Despair about the electorate is one reason, Nwanevu suggests, that the electorate so despairs about democratic institutions. Thus, although democracy “is fundamentally about competition—the right of the people to govern themselves through fair contests where majorities win,” the minority, with a Republican congressional delegation that represents 41.5 million fewer people than the Democrats, has for decades held sway over the majority. Nwanevu proposes a number of steps to secure a truer democracy, including ridding politics of dark money, eliminating the Senate filibuster, and admitting Washington, D.C., and “willing territories” to statehood. Nwanevu frequently notes that he’s wearied by how journalism “has failed to meet this political moment.” Yet his writing is vibrant, even optimistic, animated by a clear belief that self-governance is the best kind of governance, and damn the torpedoes.

A resounding, persuasive call for a truly inclusive government of the people.