Customer Reviews

Dare to Hope: Saving American Democracy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The American Green Party obscured itself in the 2000 national campaign by spending the bulk of its time arguing there was no difference between the two parties as opposed to showing voters where they personally stood on the issues which voters wanted to know about.

Subsequently, the only thing which many people knew about the Greens was they did not like either Republicans or Democrats. These voters had no idea how they differed from the two parties though.

The young mayor of New Paltz New York took a genuinely radical strategy when he ran as a Green. Jason West instead focused on 'bread and butter' issues of the people in his community.

His campaign went door-to-door promoting tenant rights, affordable housing solutions, a healthy environment, and a more open government. This unglamorous grunt work is what builds up common people's trust in any political party.

West wants to make government more accountable to people. He proposes to do this through Instant Run-off Voting (IRV). Allowing people to rank their preferred candidates in order of preference, IRV is already being used in the City of San Francisco. He also supports Proportional Representation; parties should get whatever percentage of seats they received votes for. Many European countries already use this system and it's inherent nature requires more parties to have a say in the government.

In 2004 West made international headlines for marrying 23 same-sex couples. Although the charges of performing marriages without a license were finally dropped in 2005, they provided inspiration to me. This public official was standing in solidarity with GLBT people AND personally willing to challenge the bigoted marriage statues which were allegedly enacted to protect our heterosexual unions.

Even though I am a Democrat, I really liked this book. West isn't throwing around 'progressive' and 'grassroots' to draw attention to him; he really wants an inclusive and genuine democracy. This book is good reading for anybody on the left genuinely interested in working to make our governments much more responsive and accountable to the public.

Though I live just across the Hudson River from New Paltz, New York, where Jason West is Village Mayor, I've never met him. I did, however, look on admiringly as he stood up for justice in early 2004 and became one of the first officials in the United States to legally join couples of the same sex in marriage. Much has happened since then. Voters in many states have been manipulated into futile attempts to block justice forever, even amending state constitutions to try to permanently prevent gay couples from enjoying the same benefits and protections as couples of the opposite sex.

Now in his book Dare to Hope, Jason has, with the help of Susan Bell, set out for us some of the principles that inform and express his sense of justice and his hope for the future of democracy in the United States of America. It is a small book for such a huge purpose, expressed in the subtitle: Saving American Democracy. But it does cover a lot of territory.

First, it exposes the truth that American Democracy in the dawn of the Twenty-First Century is still very imperfect, and, in its perpetuation of the two-party system, denies everyday Americans the right to effectively express their preference in the electoral process.

Even in the immediate wake of the catastrophic failure of the U.S. electoral system in 2000, when the conservative Supreme Court was allowed to decide the outcome, no one made the clear case that besides being an outmoded relic, the Electoral College system is a deliberately anti-democratic institution. It was designed, in fact, to blunt the effect of direct election by the whole people, as was the original Constitutional provision that the members of the upper house - the United States Senate - would be selected by the legislatures of the several states. This particular flaw was not corrected until 1913, with the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

So many practical matters concerning our American experiment with democracy have had to be corrected over the brief two centuries since the adoption of our Constitution (its protection of slavery, disenfranchisement of women and those deprived of real property, and, in the beginning, the lack of a Bill of Rights, to name just a few), that one wonders why we've tolerated such a flawed presidential election system for so long - a system that frequently delivers us a president NOT elected by a majority of the people.

In his book, Jason takes pains to explain something called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which apparently works well for certain European democracies. At the very least, we should have a provision for a traditional runoff election, to avoid unelected presidencies (e.g. George W. Bush's first term) and presidencies "elected" by less than a majority of the voters. Such a system is needed also to allow third- and fourth-party candidates to be taken seriously as spokespeople for serious issues instead of as vote-robbers from the candidates of the two major parties.

Finally, along with fair elections, proportional representation (as opposed to Gerrymandered Congressional districts designed to stay forever Republican or Democratic), simple justice for gay citizens, and - notably - the importance of taking steps to create sustainable communities that protect the global natural environment, Jason also informs us of some of the reason for the seemingly incomprehensible, vehement resistance to international trade agreements and the development of the WTO.

The world press has done a poor job of reporting the fact that, whereas it does make sense for countries to compete freely and trade freely in order for the natural advantages of each national or regional economy to be put to global use for the profit of all, much of this is being accomplished at the cost of local democratic control over local institutions. I have to admit that I was completely puzzled as to the reasons behind the constant demonstrations against WTO and others, assuming wrongly that if there had been a good case for all this uproar the press at least would have hinted at it.

This book is a concise and illuminating glimpse into the profound idealism of a new generation of American reformers, and it's well worth the price for that insight alone. But it is also an exposition of the principles of one young man whose actions, along with those of others in the effort to establish simple justice for gay men and lesbians in this country, have helped to light a beacon of hope for the future.

This book tells the story of a great man who has fought for justice. Read it!

For as long as I can remember the Green party has been a joke in American politics, however Mr. West has created a new more rational view of the party along with smart clear arguments, his book is full of the hope for a better country that we need now. Mr. West is a hero and a true working class politician with heart and compassion.

The American Green party has been somewhat of a joke in this country. Its policies and agenda are that of being a radical hard-core socialistic party. They rebuke with scorn the founding principals of the United States and they hold our laws in contempt. Jason West is no different. He views himself as being the mayor of the tiny town of New Paltz, New York and as such being one of the oligarchs ushering in the rule by the enlightened few.

The biggest and scariest problem with this whole book is the issues that Mr. West ran on. He proposed doing away with a vast majority of property rights on individuals. It is sad today, but our country was founded on many principals but the most fought over and hard one in the right of private ownership of property. This right is crucial to every Man and Woman in America to maintain our level of freedom. The founding fathers knew this and virtually all historians agree. Do away with property right and private ownership and the government will take over.

Jason West knows this but viewing himself as the elitist intellectual that will be in controlling cabal of the new socialistic government he is all to happy to march forward with this deleterious agenda.

Mr. West also proposes Proportional Representation which many European countries have tried. If one thing can be said is that they are a dismal failure causing more fractures and more bureaucracy than virtual any other form of governance. One would hope that if we witness several people stick there hands on to the top of a hot stove and walk away with third degrees burns we would not stick our hands on the stove. But Mr. West, defying all sorts of logic and reason wishes to burn the hands of this country. Why - the only way that he and his ilk can begin to form a coalition of power big enough to effect their anti-American and anti-humanity changes is for proportional Representation to be in effect.

Mr. West also shows utter disdain and respect for the current laws of this land. In 2005 he publicy renounced both federal and state laws and publicly broke them over and over again. His contempt and mockery of this country and his utter disregard for our current political system and for our ways of changing laws is a disgrace. Was he charged or browbeaten from office? Of Course not, he was not a right-winger, so therefore; the media and the rest of government overlooked his unlawfulness and gave him a pass.

In a nutshell West wants to take away property rights, he wants to change the way our government works to a system that has proven itself a disaster. He has no respect for our laws and works openly as a public figure telling people state and federal laws mean nothing. This man is not only a disgrace to our country his ideas are the antithesis of what America Stand for.

What a waste of time to read something like this! What a waste of time for someone to write something like this! This book is negative and talks about things we have all heard before from many people; my 14 yr old nephew could write better. This book and author are negative in every way. I DARED TO HOPE that we could all learn from this book to work together and this book is just about one person how great HE is and how HE does everything. Why does HE think HE is so great? It is people like this that are RUINING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. I used to think Mr. West had some good ideas when he was young but he is part of the hypocratic system that HE ironicaly talks about. A pathetic attempt at trying to make money as an author.