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They Don't Represent Us
- Reclaiming Our Democracy
- Narrated by: Lawrence Lessig
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
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Publisher's Summary
“This urgent book offers not only a clear-eyed explanation of the forces that broke our politics, but a thoughtful and, yes, patriotic vision of how we create a government that’s truly by and for the people.” (DAVID DALEY, best-selling author of Ratf**ked and Unrigged)
In the vein of On Tyranny and How Democracies Die, the best-selling author of Republic, Lost argues with insight and urgency that our democracy no longer represents us and shows that reform is both necessary and possible.
America’s democracy is in crisis. Along many dimensions, a single flaw - unrepresentativeness - has detached our government from the people. And as a people, our fractured partisanship and ignorance on critical issues drive our leaders to stake out ever more extreme positions.
In They Don’t Represent Us, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig charts the way in which the fundamental institutions of our democracy, including our media, respond to narrow interests rather than to the needs and wishes of the nation’s citizenry. But the blame does not only lie with “them” - Washington’s politicians and power brokers, Lessig argues. The problem is also “us.” “We the people” are increasingly uninformed about the issues, while ubiquitous political polling exacerbates the problem, reflecting and normalizing our ignorance and feeding it back into the system as representative of our will.
What we need, Lessig contends, is a series of reforms, from governmental institutions to the public itself, including:
- A move immediately to public campaign funding, leading to more representative candidates
- A reformed Electoral College, that gives the President a reason to represent America as a whole
- A federal standard to end partisan gerrymandering in the states
- A radically reformed Senate
- A federal penalty on states that don’t secure to their people an equal freedom to vote
- Institutions that empower the people to speak in an informed and deliberative way
A soul-searching and incisive examination of our failing political culture, this nonpartisan call to arms speaks to every citizen, offering a far-reaching platform for reform that could save our democracy and make it work for all of us.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about They Don't Represent Us
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christopher W Catron
- 03-22-20
All Americans should read/listen to this.
Whether you have far right or far left political view or somewhere in the middle. We are all mis-represented with the US political system.
1 person found this helpful
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- craig romney
- 01-11-20
a guide to the perplexed.
a detailed analysis of the many obstacles that prevent us from achieving a truly representative government.
1 person found this helpful
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- Traci E. Johnson
- 12-03-22
Answers here
This fellow is FOR America that includes all people. A country run by and for the people. It can happen one person at a time OR faster when we share this information.
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- Rob S.
- 12-15-20
A Powerful Call To Action
In clear, compelling terms, Professor Lessig explains what ails our republic and how we can not only keep it but make it better than ever before.
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- Thomas Bixby
- 10-26-20
good book, mixed bag
this is a good book and many of its reforms should be considered.
in some ways this book seems hyperfocused and in some ways it seems a little stretched. I appreciated the critique of polls as not representing who we are at our best, and how They should be supplemented by deliberative polls and sortitioned citizen assemblies.
this author makes clear they partisan position, but works very hard to be fair to the other side and propose a myriad of solutions that would strike reform balance.
they speak namely with ideals of (small r) republicanism, and mischaracterize how representative republics before our own ever were. Rome being a prime example, only the few were citizens when the masses were slaves. I appreciate the attempt to reconcile the intentions of various framers of our constitution and those people who framed its various amendments.
sometimes, their ideals of small r republicanism can read as elitist, but they counter that notion with the principle of one person one vote, and present many complex solutions to bridge that divide. nearing the end, they do begin to challenge how political elites unfairly treat voters and citizens as uninformed.
I'm not sure the parts of this book that focus on social media feel coherent with the rest of the narrative, but the points made are valuable nonetheless. it does however make this book feel very 2019, from hindsight up here in 2020.
this is a good book and many of its reforms should be considered.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-25-20
Best of its genre.
I rarely write reviews, but I’m compelled to let as many as I can know that this book by a first-class mind is sure to enlighten anyone concerned about the state of America’s ability to govern itself. The book is nuanced, fair, and deeply insightful. Lessig outlines what is causing the lack of representation at the federal level, and what could be done about it. I don’t usually agree with everything a non-fiction author has to say (the last time was E.O. Wilson’s Consilience), but I did here—even when it didn’t entirely comport with what my tribe might like. I learned an awful lot from Lessig. He’s a great teacher and reads the book himself. Don’t pass up a golden opportunity to expand your understanding of an important topic in the most pleasant way.
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The United States faces dangerous threats from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, terrorists, climate change, and future pandemics. The greatest peril to the country, however, comes not from abroad but from within, from none other than ourselves. The question facing us is whether we are prepared to do what is necessary to save our democracy. The Bill of Obligations is a bold call for change. In this book, New York Times bestselling author Richard Haass argues that the very idea of citizenship must be revised and expanded.
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Trying His Best to Be Balenced
- By Kindle Customer Frank E. Norman III on 01-28-23
By: Richard Haass
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Democracy in One Book or Less
- How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think
- By: David Litt
- Narrated by: David Litt
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Bryson meets Thomas Frank in this deeply insightful, unexpectedly hilarious story of how politicians hijacked American democracy and how we can take it back.
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Learned a lot!
- By Golfing_Disaster2 on 01-15-21
By: David Litt
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The People vs. Democracy
- Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It
- By: Yascha Mounk
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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The world is in turmoil. From India to Turkey and from Poland to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power. As a result democracy itself may now be at risk. Two core components of liberal democracy - individual rights and the popular will - are at war with each other. As the role of money in politics soared and important issues were taken out of public contestation, a system of "rights without democracy" took hold. Populists who rail against this say they want to return power to the people. But in practice they create a system of "democracy without rights."
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Not worth it
- By DailyShopper on 06-07-18
By: Yascha Mounk
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If We Can Keep It
- How the Republic Collapsed and How it Might Be Saved
- By: Michael Tomasky
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Why has American politics fallen into such a state of horrible dysfunction? Can it ever be fixed? These are the questions that motivate Michael Tomasky’s deeply original examination into the origins of our hopelessly polarized nation. “One of America’s finest political commentators” (Michael J. Sandel), Tomasky ranges across centuries and disciplines to show how America has almost always had two dominant parties that are existentially, and often violently, opposed.
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Republican MONSTERS broke our politics.
- By Mike Shelby on 03-29-19
By: Michael Tomasky
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One Nation After Trump
- A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported
- By: Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, E. J. Dionne Jr.
- Narrated by: E. J. Dionne Jr., Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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American democracy was never supposed to give the nation a president like Donald Trump. We have never had a president who gave rise to such widespread alarm about his lack of commitment to the institutions of self-government, to the norms democracy requires, and to the need for basic knowledge about how government works. We have never had a president who raises profound questions about his basic competence and his psychological capacity to take on the most challenging political office in the world.
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Pleasurable Factual Density, much needed
- By David on 09-21-17
By: Norman J. Ornstein, and others
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Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop
- The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America
- By: Lee Drutman
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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American democracy is at an impasse. After years of zero-sum partisan trench warfare, our political institutions are deteriorating. Our norms are collapsing. Democrats and Republicans no longer merely argue; they cut off contact with each other. In short, the two-party system is breaking our democracy, and driving us all crazy.
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Good book
- By David T. on 10-05-20
By: Lee Drutman
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Let the People Pick the President
- The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College
- By: Jesse Wegman
- Narrated by: Jesse Wegman
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The framers of the Constitution battled over it. Lawmakers have tried to amend or abolish it more than 700 times. To this day, millions of voters, and even members of Congress, misunderstand how it works. It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic principles of political equality and majority rule. How can we tolerate the Electoral College when every vote does not count the same, and the candidate who gets the most votes can lose?
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Outstanding Summary of the National Popular Vote
- By Chris Swan on 03-22-20
By: Jesse Wegman
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The Conservatarian Manifesto
- Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right's Future
- By: Charles C. W. Cooke
- Narrated by: Charles C. W. Cooke
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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There is an underserved movement budding among young conservatives in which fiscal responsibility and controlled government spending remain crucial tenets, but issues like gay marriage and drug control are approached with a libertarian bent. The ideas of this growing wave need a public, nuanced voice. The implications for the Republican Party if this philosophy is more widely adopted may not only spur major change within the party but could also revitalize its chances of claiming more power in our government.
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Great resource for a better understanding of Conservatives
- By Luis on 12-03-18
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The Great Suppression
- Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy
- By: Zachary Roth
- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Control of the country is up for grabs - and Republicans have been rigging the game in their favor. Twenty-two states have passed restrictions on voting. Ruthless gerrymandering has given the GOP a long-term grip on Congress. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has eviscerated campaign finance laws, boosting candidates backed by big money. It would be worrying enough if these were just schemes for partisan advantage. But the reality is even more disturbing.
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great read
- By stephen on 08-28-16
By: Zachary Roth
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It Was All a Lie
- How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
- By: Stuart Stevens
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass. This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else.
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A party gone astray
- By Devin on 08-07-20
By: Stuart Stevens
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It's Time to Fight Dirty
- How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics
- By: David Faris
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The American electoral system is clearly falling apart - as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris offers accessible, actionable strategies for American institutional reform which don't require a constitutional amendment, and would have a lasting impact on our future. With equal amounts of playful irreverence and persuasive reasoning, Faris describes how the Constitution's deep democratic flaws constantly put progressives at a disadvantage, and lays out strategies for "fighting dirty" though obstructionism and procedural warfare.
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Voiced frustrations of a long time liberal
- By Penguin on 10-15-18
By: David Faris