Even as Florida painstakingly recounted punch-cards in 2000, voters sensed something was deeply wrong with a system in which the less popular candidate might win the highest office in the USA. Fixing Elections shows why it's not just that the Electoral College is outdated, but that America's 18th-century political technology -especially the Winner-Take-All system - has outlived its usefulness. While voter turnout plummets to the single digits (episodes of survivor draw larger audiences than midterm elections), analysts have blamed the growing apathy of the American electorate. But as Hill so eloquently argues, today's Americans are not a lazier, less civic-minded people than their grandparents. Voting just seems pointless to many US citizens because they recognize the truth: their votes really don't count. A vote for Nader may have been a wasted vote, but so was a vote for Gore in Texas, where he had no chance of winning. This is because our system relies on geographic representation and the two party duopoly. Provocative political critic Steven Hill argues this system is as the root of many of our worst political problems, including poor minority representation, low voter turnout, expensive mudslinging campaigns, congressional gridlock, and the growing divide between city-dwellers and middle-America. In the face of cynicism about the American political system, Fixing Elections is a refreshing blueprint to resurrect our founders' democratic vision by adopting common-sense changes already instituted in other democracies. It will change the way you view American politics.
Steven Hill is a writer, columnist and political professional based in the United States with two decades of experience in politics. He is a frequent speaker at academic, government, NGO and business events, speaking on a wide range of topics related to politics, economics, climate change, global complexity, geo-strategy and trends.
Mr. Hill is the author, most recently, of Europe's Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope for an Insecure Age (www.EuropesPromise.org), published in January 2010. His previous books include 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy, Whose Vote Counts (with Rob Richie) and Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics, which has been called "the most important book on American democracy that has come out in many years." Mr. Hill is a prolific writer and commentator who has been widely published and quoted in media around the world. His articles and opeds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, Washington Monthly, Salon.com, TruthDig, American Prospect, Die Zeit, International Politik (Germany), Prospect (UK), ESharp (Brussels), Le Monde Diplomatique, Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey), Prague Post, Courrier Japon, Taiwan News, Korea Herald, Toronto Star, India Times, Burma Digest, Egypt Daily News, Roll Call, The Hill, Sierra, Ms., San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and many other leading publications. He writes a monthly column for Social Europe Journal.
Mr Hill has appeared on international, national and local radio and television programs, including the BBC, NPR, Pacifica, Sirius, Fox News and others, and he has lectured widely in the United States and Europe. He has extensive experience in political consulting and organizing, including strategic planning, policy analysis, government relations, media outreach, project management, community organizing, event production, and fundraising. He is a co-founder of FairVote and former director of the political reform program at the New America Foundation. Mr. Hill, who is a graduate of Yale University and Western Washington University/Fairhaven College, lives in San Francisco, CA.
