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Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny [Hardcover]

Theresa Amato , Ralph Nader
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 9, 2009
As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader's historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives us a witty, thoughtful critique of the American electoral system, as well as a powerful argument for opening up the contest to competition.

Busting the national myth that "anyone can grow up and be President of the United States," Amato shows how independent and third-party candidates face egregious structural barriers that prevent them from fully participating in the race or even getting their names on the ballot. In addition to waging effective voter campaigns, these candidates must simultaneously fend off preposterous numbers of legal challenges from the two major parties--during twelve weeks of Nader's '04 run, as many as twenty-five lawsuits were filed in an effort to squash his campaign.

Amato makes a powerful case for specific federal reforms in the United States' arcane system of ballot access laws, complex regulations, and partisan control of elections. Along the way, she also offers a spirited history of how third-party and Independent candidates have kept important issues on the table in elections past and contribute to our political life as a society.

Despite the dramatic run-up to the historic 2008 election and the efforts of both Obama and McCain to set themselves apart, the national political debate occurs in a very narrow range that's defined by two major parties, which are both influenced by the same corporations, special interest groups, and lobbyists. And on election day, there just aren't the kinds of genuine options that a healthy, multi-party democracy should offer. Looking beyond the Nader story to campaigns waged by challengers John Anderson, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and others, Amato shows how limiting ourselves to two candidates deprives our country of a robust political life, strips would-be contenders of their First Amendment rights, and cheats voters out of meaningful political choice.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The monumental difficulty of running for president of the United States as a third party or independent candidate is the subject of this informative but sometimes tedious chronicle by Ralph NaderÖs former campaign manager, who frames her crusade to get Nader onto the ballots in the 2000 and 2004 elections as a stand to give voters more voices and more choices. An NYU law school graduate, Amato brings a lawyerÖs sensibility to the book and details the endless technicalities, lawsuits and court rulings that NaderÖs team faced. This diligent chronicling could be essential reading for anyone planning to mount or advise an independent or third party run for president, but it is hard to imagine that the general reader will be captivated by the rented office space scandal of June 2004 and other such complications. Despite the bookÖs flaws, Amato displays an encyclopedic knowledge of election law, and her recommendations for election reform, including a comprehensive plan for Federal Administration and Financing of Elections, are crucial contributions to the debate over election law. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Until you have run, as I did, outside the two major parties, it is impossible to imagine the injustices of the two-party-tilted electoral process. Theresa Amato masterfully exposes the horrors faced by third-party and Independent candidates seeking the chance to compete and provide political choices for the American voter."
—John Anderson, former Independent presidential candidate and chair of the Center for Voting and Democracy

"Theresa Amato takes the biggest swing--not a jab, but a roundhouse punch--at America's corrupt electoral system."
—Phil Donahue

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: New Press, The; 1st edition (June 9, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1595583947
  • ISBN-13: 978-1595583949
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.3 out of 5 stars
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Final Detailed Review: Our Bunker Hill June 8, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Edit of 29 Jun 09 to correct 25% of the black population, thanks Mikey.

Edit of 18 Jun 09 to add two books by others and downgrade own books to unlinked mention.

Do not be surprised if your vote "disappears". Amazon has the idea that anyone who votes for more than one of my reviews is a "fan" and should not count. We are all at the mercy of their control of the system.

I am giving this book five stars instead of four because it is the de facto "Bunker Hill" of our 21st Century Nation, doing for politics what Silent Spring did for the environment.

The book needs to be re-issued immediately in paperback with four additions that should themselves be offered free online: an annotated bibliography that properly embraces those who have gone before; an annotated legal list of cases; a list of the worst of the 527's; and a Presidential Decision Memorandum that itemizes the Electoral Reform Act of 2009.

The book does not acknowledge work by many including William Greider, e.g. Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy or Greg Palast, e.g. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. The latter bears on the author's being unwitting about Al Gore being bought off in Florida (today he is worth $100 million), with Warren Christopher carrying the offer from Wall Street.

That having been said, this is a SENSATIONAL BOOK not least because for the first time it has gotten Ron Paul to endorse a book and to talk to Ralph Nader in constructive terms--I pray this means that Ralph Nader is now ready to play well with others, including Cynthia McKinney and Jackie Salit.

I have goosebumps as I write this and a huge smile. This book is the first shot at our Bunker Hill and the government Of, By, and For the Banks (see the image I have loaded) is on the run, Goldman Sachs is finishing up its looting of the US Treasury, and I for one am appalled at the lack of integrity across the Senate--John McCain included--in failing to stop this under Bush and now under Obama--what better evidence do we need that this book by this author is "on target"? See Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy); Obama: The Postmodern Coup - Making of a Manchurian Candidate; and Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency among many others.

Here are my fly-leaf notes, followed by an itemization of the book's concluding thoughts and other recommended reading.

For me the gem of gems in this book is on page 253, and I quote the author directly: "Whether you can vote--and whether your vote counts--depends primarily on where you live."

In many states such as Florida, 25% of the male black population has been convicted of a felony, served its time, and is still not allowed to vote. I agree this needs to change. [See Intro note 3 for citation].

Across the entire book, using the two Nader campaigns as a source of actual experience--this is non-fiction at its very best--non-fiction of great consequence I might add--the author documents the degree to which state documentation requirements and voting procedures vary "wildly" and can also be intimidating.

Citing Steven Hill and his book Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics PB, the author quotes Hill: "Winner take all is horse & buggy technology."

The Libertarian Party is mentioned six times, but not recognized by the author as a "main" third party, something I hope Ron Paul's endorsement of this book will change. I URGE THE PUBLISHER TO PAY ATTENTION: this book needs to be issued in paperback immediately, with the four additions detailed above.

I learn an enormous amount in this book, which is certain to be an academic, business, and political classic for years to come.

Terry McAuliffe is an unethical pig. Democratic Party under McAuliffe destroyed Nader's prospects, to include libeling him and creating massive published misrepresentation. I learn from the author that "You can get away with libel if you put it in a lawsuit."

"Campaigns are simultaneously over-regulated, under-regulated, and ineffectively regulated." The entire book documents this assertion.

$250,000 a day is what needs to be raised to be a Presidential candidate.

527s are not only out of control and use the federal complaints progress as well as state by state law suits to put third party campaigns into grid-lock.

3rd parties are not offered Secret Service protection (and in my view need it the most)

Press is a trivializing factor to point that 45% of the public now ignores the press (but I would add, still has no solid "truth teller" to rely upon).

Good chapter on the Presidential Debate Commission which is an unethical and unofficial fraud created to exclude Third Parties, and which uses the police to block third party candidates from even being in attendance.

Over 6 million "lost votes" across the Nation. Diebold is trash (I already knew that, but the book does a fine job of documenting Diebold's criminal insecurity.

Observers are blocked from vote counting by being called "threats to security." I have a note, "Insanity prevails."

I learn there is a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) which is important, since it was this position that stole the election for Bush in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

The concluding review covers:
Electoral College
Vote Counting
Voter ID
Absentee & early Voting
Military & Overseas Votes
Write-In Votes
Provisional Votes
Recounts

The recommendations for reform are comprehensive:
Eliminate Electoral College
Add Affirmative Right to Vote
Federalize Federal elections
Federal Administration (24 specifics)
State-Level Reforms (25 specifics)
Judiciary Integrity

For a shorter eight-point version, search for <Electoral Reform Act oss.net>. The book ends with thoughts on the consequences of doing nothing. I urge one and all to demand of Obama an Electoral Reform Act of 2009, which itself should be defined by a nation-wide virtual summit among all interested voters.

Three other books of note:
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life
The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy

I have offered up free online all of the books from Earth Intelligence Network, at oss.net/BOOKS (add the www), and especially recommend the annotated bibliography at oss.net/PIG, as it is a virtual "Citizen's Reader" and my summaries of 500+ books across a range of topics relevant to restoring the goodness of America at home and abroad can be helpful in arming those who mean to government themselves with the power of knowledge. The three best books here at Amazon (out of links) are:
ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig
NEW CRAFT OF INTELLIGENCE: Personal, Public, & Political
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Resist the Borg. Do not be assimilated. Demand Electoral Reform NOW.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Nader's Challenge June 16, 2009
Format:Hardcover
Grand Illusion
The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
(The New Press: New York, 2009)
By Theresa Amato

A Review by Pat Choate
_________________________________

As the 1996 presidential election approached, the Association of State Green Parties was looking for someone to be their candidate for President. The person they drafted was Ralph Nader; one of the most respected public figures in the United States.

Although the Greens were able to get Nader on the ballot in 22 states, he never had a chance of winning the presidency. However, presidential campaigns are about far more than winning. Being in a race for the Presidency, a candidate has an opportunity to raise issues with the American public in a serious forum. Thus, Nader used the race to highlight policy issues that Bill Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and Robert Dole, the Republican candidate ignored, such as the outsourcing of jobs and industries because of the U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the lack of a national health care agenda. The race provided a unique opportunity, and he made good use of it.

Bill Clinton, the sitting President, easily won the election. Nader got 684,000 votes or slightly less than one percent. Yet, something else happened in that election of great significance. The newly formed Reform Party, and its candidate Ross Perot, received slightly more than eight million votes, though Dole and Clinton blocked his participation in the Presidential debates. Under the 1974 Campaign Reform Act if a party secures five percent or more of the popular vote, they qualify as a "National Party" and thus public funding for the next Presidential election. Suddenly, the possibility of a real third party challenge to the two party duopoly on policy issues and even for public office seemed possible.

Following the 1996 election, however, the Reform Party drifted into internal squabbling, fell apart, and by the time of the primaries for the 2000 election had squandered their opportunity.

Ralph Nader and the Green Party picked up the fallen baton. In the 2000 elections, Nader again led the Green ticket, but this time he mounted a serious effort to secure the five percent of the national vote required to make the Greens a national party. Moreover, the Nader campaign was able to get their candidate on the ballot in 44 states. A five percent win meant that Nader and this new party would have a national forum for at least four more years from which they could raise the issues the two major parties refused to discuss, plus they could mount state and local campaigns. Overnight, the Greens would be a major rallying point for independents and others who wanted real policy and political change. And they would get precious public financing in the 2004 Presidential campaign.

The 2000 presidential race was intense and despite a heroic effort, the Greens were unable to reach the five percent mark. However, Nader did get more than 2.8 million votes or 2.7 percent, a strong showing for any third party. Gore, of course, lost though he won the popular vote. Leading Democrats, then as now, claimed that Nader's success was the cause of Al Gore's defeat.

Even a superficial review of that election reveals that Gore lost because of his political incompetence. He failed to win his home state, where his family had a long-standing political dynasty. He refused to allow his campaign to actively involve Bill Clinton, who though ethically challenged was nonetheless immensely popular with voters. He dithered on how to handle the Florida recount, eventually allowing the Republicans to take the matter before the GOP-dominated U.S. Supreme Court which then stopped the recount in Florida and gave the election to George W. Bush in a 5-4 decision.

Because of Gore's failure, the most incompetent President in American history took the office, led the nation into a seemingly endless war in the Mid-East, and precipitated a collapse of the global economy that wiped out almost 40 percent of the national wealth in a span of his last 18 months in office.

Which brings us to this magnificent book by Theresa Amato, Ralph Nader's campaign manager in the 2000 and 2004 election, and the riveting story she tells.

Amato was both Nader's national presidential campaign manager and in-house counsel for both those elections. She is a Harvard graduate and holds a law degree from NYU School of Law. She has been a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics and at the Harvard Law School. Even better for the reader, she was an insider in those campaigns and knows precisely what happened, plus she is skilled writer and storyteller. While the book covers the 2000 election, it is really about the 2004 campaign.

By late 2003, the disaster of the Bush Presidency was obvious to anyone who would look. Many Democrats viewed Bush's defeat in 2004 as a real possibility if not a certainty.

Because the Democratic leadership believed that Nader was the cause of Gore's defeat in 2000, they decided to do everything in their power to keep him off the ballot in 2004. As the book reveals, their obsession with Nader and the vast resources of money and lawyers they invested in smearing him and sabotaging his campaign is one of the reasons John Kerry lost the election in 2004.

As with the Reform Party, the Greens had internal conflicts by the time of the 2004 election. Thus, Nader ran as an independent. And as in the two prior elections, he had to mount a massive effort to get on the individual state ballots. This time, however, the full might of the Democratic establishment was put against him and his supporters, led by the Democratic National Committee. One of their smears is that Nader was simply an egotist. Another line was that the GOP was financing his campaign. Neither was true.

The challenge to get on the ballot by an independent or third party are a mish-mash that vary widely. Plus, any candidate must carefully follow all the rules imposed by the Federal Election Commission, which was created by the 1974 campaign laws. These state eligibility rules and FEC dictates, not surprisingly, favor the Democrats and Republican Parties and do so overwhelmingly.

To get on the state ballots, Amato hired professional petitioners who are skilled in securing the required signatures. The Democrats responded by enlisting paid and volunteer lawyers to disrupt the process with any legal technique, proper or not, that they could. In Oregon, a prominent law firm sent petitioners an intimidating letter warning that anyone falsely signing a petition may be convicted of a felony with a fine of up to $100,000 or prison for five years. Then, thirty of the Nader petitioners had an unannounced visit at their homes by two persons identifying themselves as "investigators" who asked information about who had hired them and where they were seeking signatures. Amato, of course, protested such intimidation to the Oregon Secretary of State's office, which oversees elections, but did nothing. Subsequently, she learned that the lawyer and "investigators" were working for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) using the same thuggish techniques that anti-union employers use against union organizers.

Despite the intimidation, the Nader campaign submitted 28,000 signatures, although he needed only 15,306 to get on the ballot. The balance was for insurance.

Although all the signatures had been validated by county elections officers, who signed and dated every sheet with an affidavit of authenticity, the Secretary of State's Office created some new "unwritten rules" to disqualify signatures. One new rule was that every signature on a sheet, which may have 50 or more names, must be legible. If even one signature was ruled illegible, the Secretary of State discarded the entire sheet and all the voter signatures. Another "unwritten" rule was that any correction of a date by a single person on the sheet, such as changing a 7 to an 8, meant that the entire sheet and all the signatures were also discarded. After all these new unwritten rules were applied, Nader had a final tally of 15,088 signatures - 258 short.

Ray Bradbury -- the Oregon Secretary of State, a Kerry supporter, and the Democratic candidate in 2004 for reelection to the position- sent out a letter after his decision bragging about how he had kept Nader off the ticket, while asking the recipients for campaign contributions to fund his own reelection. Kathleen Harris, the former Secretary of State in Florida who botched the 2000 Florida recount, looks positively competent in comparison with Bradbury and dozens of other state election officials that Amato identifies in this book.

The Nader campaign immediately appealed Bradbury's decision to the Marion County Circuit Court, which ruled in Nader's favor and ordered his name put onto the ballot. The Secretary of State appealed the decision at the Oregon Supreme Court, which ruled that Bradbury had the authority to make up "unwritten rules" and thus ordered Nader's name taken off the ballot. Amato appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. It refused to hear the case.

Over the next several months, the Nader campaign faced 24 similar actions in 17 other states. Repeatedly, they would petition the U.S. Supreme Court for what were obvious constitutional violations and always the Justices rejected their request for a hearing. Perhaps no one should be surprised that a Court that would stop a voter recount and declare the winner of a Presidential election by a 5-4 vote would ignore the pleas of a third party candidate. Read more ›
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars civic defense manual September 23, 2009
Format:Hardcover
Even or especially if you are not an enthusiastic member of a third party, this book is a must-read for protecting your right to vote. For it brilliantly explains the shocking and crass ways any part of our election process can be twisted and perverted. It can't happen here? Yes, it can.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Must-reading for every American
Just got this book, have only read the 1st chapter, but it is a bombshell. Really, this book is worth getting for the 1st chapter alone, and if your mind is functioning it is going... Read more
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This book calls for national reform on the rules for ballot access at local, state, and federal level for elections to public office. Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars Get over it Ralph
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Ever wonder why your ballot choices are so limited in the U.S.? Wonder why you hardly hear or see adds for third party and independent candidates? The U.S. Read more
Published on May 18, 2011 by infoglutton
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book
Grand Illusion is a great book and I strongly recommend it. The American electoral system is a fraud and until we improve ballot access, establish a system of proportional... Read more
Published on November 9, 2010 by Brandon Magoon
5.0 out of 5 stars The Grand Illusion - "WOW WOW WOW"
What an awesome read. I have been a die-hard Independent voter for the past 20 years and until I read this book I had not truly realized how truly messed up things are in America. Read more
Published on February 1, 2010 by Daniel J. Deluca
2.0 out of 5 stars For hardcore ballot access junkies only
If you are really interested in ballot access issues, this book is for you. Otherwise, it's a long hard slog through a tedious 300-page preachy exclamation point laden Theresa... Read more
Published on September 19, 2009 by A. Davis
5.0 out of 5 stars If You Want Democracy to Survive, Read This Book
This book is the political equivalent of Upton Sinclair's "Jungle." Not only has Theresa Amato been in the political abattoirs of two national presidential campaigns, she knows... Read more
Published on September 5, 2009 by John Wasik
4.0 out of 5 stars The two-party system: The great and powerful Oz, American style
Reading Theresa Amato's GRAND ILLUSION: THE MYTH OF VOTER CHOICE IN A TWO-PARTY TYRANNY, I think of the climactic scene in the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ where Dorothy and her friends... Read more
Published on August 6, 2009 by J. L LaRegina
3.0 out of 5 stars Little new ground
Though I am totally in tune with the themes and recommendations in this book, as a long-time third party advocate and head of the Independent Party of Maryland, everyone should... Read more
Published on June 23, 2009 by Joel S. Hirschhorn
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