Let the People Pick the President
The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College
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ISBN10: 1250221994
ISBN13: 9781250221995
Trade Paperback
304 Pages
$17.99
CA$24.99
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?
Now, with political passions at a boiling point, 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.
Reviews
Praise for Let the People Pick the President
"People have been arguing against the Electoral College from the beginning. But no one, at least in recent years, has laid out the case as comprehensively and as readably as Jesse Wegman does in Let the People Pick the President."—Josh Chafetz, The New York Times Book Review
“Was it a mistake to create the Electoral College? Jesse Wegman argues that it was. This timely and erudite work should interest all who are interested in the future of the United States.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello
“Jesse Wegman’s urgent and ultimately irrefutable call to action is the most readable and fully informed explanation of how the Electoral College is wrecking America’s great experiment in government of, by, and for the people. It’s not too late to rescue our democracy from destruction. But it soon will be. Wegman makes a compelling case that we must act now—and he explains what to do.”—Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School
"Jesse Wegman is a shrewd analyst, brilliant researcher and passionate writer, and here he tackles an issue important to our system’s legitimacy."—Nicholas Kristoff
"Throughout, the author's confidence in his argument shines through . . . An illuminating history and analysis."—Kirkus Reviews
"A methodical, well-reasoned compilation of arguments on a pertinent subject; recommended for readers interested in historical and contemporary U.S. politics."—Library Journal
“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 . . . this urgent and lucidly presented plea for change will resonate with progressives.”—Publishers Weekly
BOOK EXCERPTS
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INTRODUCTION
A MORE PERFECT UNION
The Last Step Toward American Democracy
At 4:43 a.m. on November 9, 2016, Micheal Baca, a 24-year-old Democratic presidential elector from Colorado, sent an urgent text...
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Let the People Pick the President: The Case For Abolishing the Electoral College/Jesse Wegman (v2)
It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic principles of political equality and majority rule. In Let the People Pick the President, Supreme Court journalist and New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count―and restore belief in our democratic system
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Jesse Wegman
