While US voter turnout plummets to single digits (even episodes of Survivor drew larger audiences than cast votes for either Gore or Bush), analysts have blamed the growing apathy of the American electorate. But as provocative political critic Steven Hill so eloquently argues, we're not a lazier, less civic-minded people than our grandparents. Voting just seems pointless to many citizens because they recognize the truth: their votes really DON'T count. Fixing Elections shows our whole 18th-century Winner Take All political system, including the way we elect our legislatures. In 2000, a vote for Nader may have been a wasted vote, but so was a vote for Gore in solidly GOP Texas, or Bush in Democratic New York, where the state's winner was a foregone conclusion. In legislatures, rigged district lines render impotent the votes of millions of Americans, Democrat, Republican and independent alike. Steven Hill argues that the US geographic-based, Winner Take All political system is at the root of many of America's worst political problems, including poor minority and majority representation, low voter turnout, expensive mudslinging campaigns, congressional gridlock, regional balkanization and the growing divide between city-dwellers and middle-America. Fixing Elections is a refreshing blueprint to resurrect the democratic vision of America's founders by adopting common-sense changes already instituted in other democracies. It will change the way you think about 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.
