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Ken's Reviews > Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
by
by
Ken's review
bookshelves: contemporary, finished-in-2023, history, nonfiction, politics-society
Sep 27, 2023
bookshelves: contemporary, finished-in-2023, history, nonfiction, politics-society
Another one of those books that all Americans should agree on because it argues that our government should be more representative of the people than it is, that all our votes should count equally, that change is a necessary part of life and thus should have some kind of role in governance as well.
But no. I'm sure instead the book will strike readers as controversial. In it authors Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that our republican form of democracy is far behind others in the world and change is necessary, especially when you consider that NOT changing leaves the country prey to democracy's worst predators: minority rule advocates who take advantage of our system's historical weaknesses and authoritarian sorts who only want law and order to apply to their political enemies (when they break the law, it's "patriotic" and, by the way, up is down and cold is hot).
For starters, the authors reach into the histories of both the USA and other democracies to show where dangers lie and to put matters like the Constitution into context. It is not holy writ. It has its faults and needs to change with the times. Even the Founding Fathers warned as much. But now there are those who stubbornly fight any semblance in change to things like the Constitution, the Electoral College (not in the Constitution, folks), and the Senate filibuster (as well as its controversial from the start form of "equal representation" -- Wyoming and Rhode Island are as powerful there as California or Texas, as all get two senators who can wreak havoc with legislation or, more likely, block everything that cannot muster 60 votes).
In addition to making their points through historical data, the book details the contemporary scene and just how dangerously we've wandered from the Founders' original intent, to the point where candidates lose popular votes both in states and country elections yet maintain control with such blatantly unfair advantages as gerrymandered districts they've rigged in advance to make losing control of legislatures all but impossible to an Electoral College that gives one party (Republican) about a 4-5 point advantage over its opponent (Democrats). That is, the GOP candidates can afford to lose by up to 4-5% in the popular vote and STILL win the Electoral College, an outdated compromise from early in our history that has made a mockery of the word "democracy." No one was much happy with it when it began and no one is much happy with it now -- except tyrants of the minority who benefit from it every four years.
In the final chapter, the authors lay out a plan for change that includes term limits for Supreme Court justices (another subject in the news of late... partisans in robes making mockery of "blind justice" by thwarting the will of majorities of Americans).
If you believe in democracy and still have hope for a country under siege, you could do worse than educate yourself by reading this succinct 260-pager.
But no. I'm sure instead the book will strike readers as controversial. In it authors Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that our republican form of democracy is far behind others in the world and change is necessary, especially when you consider that NOT changing leaves the country prey to democracy's worst predators: minority rule advocates who take advantage of our system's historical weaknesses and authoritarian sorts who only want law and order to apply to their political enemies (when they break the law, it's "patriotic" and, by the way, up is down and cold is hot).
For starters, the authors reach into the histories of both the USA and other democracies to show where dangers lie and to put matters like the Constitution into context. It is not holy writ. It has its faults and needs to change with the times. Even the Founding Fathers warned as much. But now there are those who stubbornly fight any semblance in change to things like the Constitution, the Electoral College (not in the Constitution, folks), and the Senate filibuster (as well as its controversial from the start form of "equal representation" -- Wyoming and Rhode Island are as powerful there as California or Texas, as all get two senators who can wreak havoc with legislation or, more likely, block everything that cannot muster 60 votes).
In addition to making their points through historical data, the book details the contemporary scene and just how dangerously we've wandered from the Founders' original intent, to the point where candidates lose popular votes both in states and country elections yet maintain control with such blatantly unfair advantages as gerrymandered districts they've rigged in advance to make losing control of legislatures all but impossible to an Electoral College that gives one party (Republican) about a 4-5 point advantage over its opponent (Democrats). That is, the GOP candidates can afford to lose by up to 4-5% in the popular vote and STILL win the Electoral College, an outdated compromise from early in our history that has made a mockery of the word "democracy." No one was much happy with it when it began and no one is much happy with it now -- except tyrants of the minority who benefit from it every four years.
In the final chapter, the authors lay out a plan for change that includes term limits for Supreme Court justices (another subject in the news of late... partisans in robes making mockery of "blind justice" by thwarting the will of majorities of Americans).
If you believe in democracy and still have hope for a country under siege, you could do worse than educate yourself by reading this succinct 260-pager.
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Reading Progress
September 24, 2023
–
Started Reading
September 24, 2023
– Shelved
September 25, 2023
–
29.35%
""This is the banality of authoritarianism. Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy's collapse are just ambitious careerists trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one. They do not oppose democracy out of deep-seated principle but are merely indifferent to it. They tolerate or condone antidemocratic extremism because it is the path of least resistance.""
page
108
September 26, 2023
–
46.74%
""Today, then, Republicans are predominantly the party of sparsely populated regions, while Democrats are the party of the cities. As a result, the Constitution's small-state bias, which became a rural bias in the twentieth century, has become a partisan bias in the twenty-first century. We are experiencing our own form of "creeping counter-majoritarianism.""
page
172
September 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
contemporary
September 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
finished-in-2023
September 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
history
September 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
nonfiction
September 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
politics-society
September 27, 2023
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)
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Nick wrote: "It's interesting how these matters are echoes elsewhere. Australian governing uses an archaic system of custom and practice known as the Westminster system of accepted parliamentary processes - inh..."It's amazing how more and more democracies are struggling with fascist elements. It seems to be a cyclical thing, much like war.
I worry in the daytime, even!
Thanks for the informative comment.
Thank you for this review, Ken. I am not close enough to American politics (UK and France politics provides plenty for my thirst of dark matters) to give a meaningful comment on this book or your review of it, but your comment about democracies struggling with fascists elements does talk to me. So if I may.Fascism tends to appear when societies reach high levels of uncertainties for the future, and we are living in such times, to a level probably never attained before, since Humanity’s existence itself is at stake. So same here, I worry day and night.
Political powers, and far right ideology thrive in exploiting and intensifying these tendencies and fears. There is a very good study which I recommend, seemingly forgotten, by Wilhelm Reich (The Mass Psychology of Fascism) published in Germany, in 1933, which at the time looked at understanding why the Germany of the 30s, that of the workers movements from the 20s, against all expectations, had chosen fascism over communism, when the economical sh*t had hit the fan.
Reich, who was a psychanalyst by formation, saw the seeds of fascism in our patriarchal civilisation. This system is built on Church or religious control, sexual frustration, economic and societal precarity, nationalistic identity all of which are conductive, consciously or unconsciously, of emotional irrationality, fear from anything alien to that construction. These emotions are always there but when all goes well, they are almost dormant or at least controlled. When the uncertainties grow, when the fear and the anxiety becomes a strong burden, the apparent relief will be found, in something that will fit that whole system: the strong patriarchal figure. In 1933 Germany, it was Hitler, who started by advantageously exacerbate these irrational fears to then come as the big reliever. For 2023 well, I will let you have your pick for these strong and machos patriarchal figures around the world.
Needless to say that Reich had to flee Germany pronto after that publication and that his book was prime combustible for any decent Nazi's autodafe.
It is one theory between others, but I had been impressed by this book when I read it as I struggled to understand how, in a supposedly enlighten 21st century, where multi-culturalism and knowledge sharing, access to the Other, has never been so easy, we could still see such regressions and the dark plague of fascisms rising again. So I thought I would share as a part response to your comment.
Yves wrote: "Thank you for this review, Ken. I am not close enough to American politics (UK and France politics provides plenty for my thirst of dark matters) to give a meaningful comment on this book or your r..."Thanks, Yves, for such a thoughtful (and educational!) comment on history repeating itself.
There are elements, for sure, causing some people, no matter what country, to pledge themselves to quick answers, to the mythical past of "better times," to father figures, to a streak of cruelty in response to fraught times like these (wars like the invasion of Ukraine, which have far-reaching ramifications, unexpected events like pandemics, upheavals like mass migrations caused by wars, climate events, drug lords, etc.).
And thanks for informing me about Reich. I'd never heard of him before! (Not unusual, I know.)
Wow this has been an equally informative discussion after your fine words, Ken. Troubling times, agreed. I won’t even mention Canada (we had the Freedom Convey protesting vaccine mandates and wanting to take over the government.) even in my own province of Alberta, there is talk of leaving Canada (not my view) for political reasons, all backed by the extreme right. I think we are all shell shocked. Sigh.Thanks to Yves for the book by Reich, one I certainly never heard of but sounds valuable.
David wrote: "Wow this has been an equally informative discussion after your fine words, Ken. Troubling times, agreed. I won’t even mention Canada (we had the Freedom Convey protesting vaccine mandates and wanti..."I remember the mess in Ottawa, yes. We cannot underestimate how the gasoline of the Internet feeds the flames of fascist/rightwing extremism no matter what the country. Word spreads. Mimicking tactics too.
As comments here have proven, it's not an American problem alone.
David wrote: "Wow this has been an equally informative discussion after your fine words, Ken. Troubling times, agreed. I won’t even mention Canada (we had the Freedom Convey protesting vaccine mandates and wanti..."Thank you David and Ken. I am glad I could bring Wilhelm Reich to your attention. However I need to give a warning as I find this is an author that needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
He is quite controversial (but that's not necessarily a bad thing), and not all that he has written is as valuable as this book. It is suspected that towards the end of his life he largely lost in mind and went up creating some very weird theories, about orgone boxes, which made him a pariah in the scientific community. I am no scientist, and so I always stuck with his writings about Fascism which, although they one theory between others, I find quite astute and certainly thought provoking.
Ken wrote: "David wrote: "Wow this has been an equally informative discussion after your fine words, Ken. Troubling times, agreed. I won’t even mention Canada (we had the Freedom Convey protesting vaccine mand..."Yes none of us should feel alone we have this sad problem everywhere.
A very good point, Ken, regarding the internet and mass media which could have gone to be a very constructive tool for humanity, and create a great utopian world, where all knowledge would be available at a click, but has been drowned in a flood of information and misinformation. Mind you it was probably to be expected, too much of anything is always a pollution, carbon pollution, garbage pollution, light pollution, and even information pollution.
At the end it feels that the more knowledge we are having access to, the more ignorant we are becoming.
And unfortunately, as the Bard says: "There is no darkness but ignorance."
and what are the rightwing extremism ideas if not darkness?
Ken wrote: "Yves wrote: "Thank you for this review, Ken. I am not close enough to American politics (UK and France politics provides plenty for my thirst of dark matters) to give a meaningful comment on this b..."I shall re-use the comment above as a review of Reich's book, I expanded so much on it, can't help myself when I start on something that interests me, and thank you for your review that triggered it all, so I expanded so much that in effect it is a review. :)
Reforms in England are used as what we might do but he fails to mention the prime minister can not be a Catholic even in this day and age. Ours is still the best system!
What happens when parliamenetarians starts to ignore custom and practice? The beginnings of tyranny.
The Oz constitution was drafted by a colonial group of men who wanted the place to remain British. So they inserted a section that allowed for discrimination based on race. So immigration policies started with a white only approach. Then we had the racial discrimination legislation. Everyone agreed to it. Now, the problem is that a majority in parliament could easily legislate that Act away and discriminate it all away. I'm now certain it might happen, in some distant malignant future.
I do worry at night. Thanks Ken!