Reflecting All of Us: The Case for Proportional Representation (New Democracy Forum) - Softcover

Robert Richie; Steven Hill; Joshua Cohen; Joel Rogers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807044210 ISBN 13: 9780807044216

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1999

Synopsis

A lively dialogue on the power of electoral reform to strengthen our democratic institutions

Scholars, critics, reformers, politicians, and activists have for years asked why Americans are so uninvolved in the political process. Minority underrepresentation, the marginalization of progressive voices, the exclusion of the poor-these and other serious problems appear everywhere, from the pages of national newspapers to MTV.

Robert Richie and Steven Hill offer a powerful solution, one currently in practice in many parts of the world, including places in the U.S.: proportional representation. They demonstrate that unlike the winner-takes-all system, which always leaves the losers completely unrepresented, proportional representation gives all points of view a political voice; it works by giving citizens multiple votes or the right to vote for more than one candidate, or by giving political parties power according to percentages of votes received.

Esteemed thinkers-Cynthia McKinney, John Ferejohn, E. Joshua Rosenkrantz, Gary W. Cox, Daniel Cantor, Ross Mirkarimi, Anthony Thig penn, and Pamela S. Karlan-respond in essays discussing the forms proportional representation could take to operate best in the U.S. Their contributions underscore the concept at the heart of this book: the more people invested in the political process, the more democratic-and reflective of all of us-our system becomes.

NEW DEMOCRACY FORUM: A series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. The series editors (for Boston Review), Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers, aim to foster politically engaged, intellectually honest, and morally serious debate about fundamental issues-both on and off the agenda of conventional politics.

About this title

About the Author

Richie is a Beacon Press author.

Review

The problems of American democracy: low turnout, a lack of focus on issues and negative campaigning are a common topic. Many people blame the impact of money for many of these ills. But in "Reflecting All of Us - The Case for Proportional Representation," Robert Richie and Steven Hill make the case that the problem is deeper -- it's in our winner-take-all elections.

Many Americans aren't aware that there is any other way to count votes than the way it is done in the U.S. They don't know that most established democracies use a different system called proportional representation. Richie and Hill present the basic case that proportional representation leads to higher voter turnouts and results in better representation of the political, racial and gender diversity in our society. Furthermore, proportional representation negates the problems of gerrymandering -- the engineering of district boundaries to benefit the party that is drawing the boundaries.

Through their nonpartisan organization, the Center for Voting and Democracy, Richie and Hill have demonstrated that gerrymandering has resulted in an uncompetitive democracy in the United States, leaving voters with few choices in districts designed to be safe forincumbents. Richie and Hill have documented the large number of state legislative races (41%) with only one major party candidate, and further how 80% of Congressional elections consistently have a large margin of victory, with incumbents winning reelection over 90% of the time. With a major redistricting approaching after the 2000 Census, reforming this process will again be a major topic, which should fuel a debate about proportional representation..

The book has a unique format. After an introduction by Lani Guinier, the authors argue the general case for proportional representation, followed by a series of responses by independent commentators. While none of the essayists are in direct opposition to proportional representation, a few are skeptical of some of the arguments made by the primary authors. Others deal with the practical difficulties of getting voters to accept proportional representation.

But none of the contributions are exhaustive. The very shortness of the book -- only 90 pages -- makes it unintimidating. The prospective reader isn't confronted with a dense tome of political science. But this strength also leads to the main weakness: the briefness of the debate leaves many issues unresolved. A good bibliography for further reading would have been useful. There are a few reading sources cited in the footnotes.

The first essay is by Cynthia McKinney, a Democratic Congresswoman who is a supporter of the proportional representation alternative and has introduced laws in the U.S. Congress to make it possible.

Political scientist Gary Cox claims that proportional representation will not work well with the presidential system used in the United States. While many commentators confuse the parliamentary system with proportional representation, Cox attempts to show that the combination of proportional representation and a presidential system leads to poor governance. But I think he ignores the shifting nature of coalitions in the Congress, so I find his argument unconvincing.

Third party activists Daniel Cantor of the New Party, and Ross Mirkarimi of the Green Party, comment on the practical question: how do we get proportional representation, particularly when sitting politicians wouldn't benefit from it? Cantor stresses the importance of the initiative, while Mirkarimi recommends that higher voter turnout be emphasized as a benefit.

Other commentators include Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan, legal expert E. Joshua Rosenkranz from the Brennan Legal Center, political scientist John Ferejohn, and Los Angeles community activist Anthony Thigpenn.

The book closes with a response from Richie and Hill to some of the comments from the essayists. Considering that they had no control over the choice of essayists, this exchange is valuable, if only a taste of serious debate.

I found the nuanced criticisms from some of the contributors to have increased my awareness of the issues. Some criticisms need further discussion, but the purpose of this brief book is to further open the debate on the practical aspects of proportional representation. I am sure that "Reflecting Us All" will succeed in doing so. -- Dean Myerson is Secretary of the Association of State Green Parties and lives in Boulder, CO

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807044210
• ISBN 13: 9780807044216
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 120