Democracy's Rebirth
The View from Chicago
1st Edition
Published on 26. April 2022
248 pages
978-0-252-05329-0 (ISBN)
Description
Dick Simpson draws upon his fifty-year career as a legislator, campaign strategist, and government advisor to examine the challenges confronting Americans in their struggle to build the United States as a multiracial, multiethnic democracy. Using Chicago as an example, Simpson examines how the political, racial, economic, and social inequalities dividing the nation play out in our neighborhoods and cities. His investigation of our current crisis and its causes delves into issues like money in politics, low voter participation, the politics of resentment, political corruption, and a host of structural problems. But Democracy's Rebirth goes beyond analysis. Simpson lays out a sober, practical manifesto meant to inspire people everywhere to educate themselves and do the hard work of creating the kind of strong institutions that will allow true democracy to flourish. With a foreword by Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot.
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04/2022
University of Illinois Press
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04/2022
University of Illinois Press
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Content
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- 1 Challenges to Democracy
- Manifesto
- 2 The Rise and Fall of Democracy
- Machine Democracy in Chicago
- The American Republic
- Representative Democracy
- Lessons from the Past
- 3 Income and Racial Inequality
- Inequality Today
- Economic and Racial Inequality in Chicago
- Political Consequences
- Times of Crisis
- Overcoming Inequality
- 4 Money in Politics
- Regulating Money in Politics
- Cost of Elections
- Translating Campaign Giving into Government Influence
- Public Opinion
- Public Financing and Lobbying Restrictions
- Limiting the Effect of Money in Politics
- 5 Nonparticipation
- Control by Political Parties in Chicago
- City Government
- The 2019 Chicago Mayoral Election
- Representative Democracy
- Mass and Social Media
- Citizenship Today
- Voter Participation and the Turnout Gap
- What Is to Be Done?
- 6 Polarization and the Politics of Resentment
- Divisions in Chicago
- National Polarization
- Resentment
- Polarization in Elected Officials
- Dissatisfaction with Democracy
- Polarization in Chicago
- The 1977 Mayoral Succession
- The 1983 Election
- The 1987 Mayoral Succession
- The 2019 and 2020 Elections
- United We Stand
- 7 Corruption
- Level of Corruption
- An Egregious Case
- History of Corruption in Chicago and Illinois
- Corruption in the United States
- Institutional Corruption
- Curing Corruption
- 8 Structural Problems
- Broader Structural Problems
- The Electoral College
- Gerrymandering
- Term Limits
- Voter Suppression and Automatic Voter Registration
- Electoral Integrity and Electronic Voting
- Voting Systems
- An Undemocratic Congress
- Structural Barriers to Democracy in Chicago
- Election Dates
- Sham Candidates
- Judicial Elections
- The Need for Reform
- 9 Cascading Crises
- Black Lives Matter
- Chicago's Torture Machine
- Structural Racism
- The COVID-19 Pandemic
- Economic Recession
- The 2020 Presidential Election
- Insurrection and Attempted Coup
- The Effect of Crisis
- 10 Deliberative Democracy
- Neighborhood Government in Chicago
- Forty-Fourth Ward Government
- Participatory Budgeting
- Transition Team
- Issue Voting and Governing
- New England Town Meeting
- Jefferson's Ward System
- Making Congress Deliberative
- Legislative Juries
- Other Alternatives
- Our Divisions
- Constitutional Crisis and Constitutional Rot
- The Move to Deliberative Democracy
- 11 Spirit of Democracy
- Chicago's Rebirth
- A Democratic Movement for Change
- Solutions
- Civic Virtue
- Teaching Civic Engagement
- Democracies Do Die
- Political Action
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
