Reviews for Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions

The average rating for Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-03 00:00:00 Ellick Erickson A perfect companion piece to Dixie Rising, this book explores the mistakes Democrats have made over the last 40 years by writing off the South as unwinnable, and ceding it to the Republicans. Apparently, there are actually far more registered Democrats in the South than Republicans, and Southern states have more Democrats, and African Americans, in local and state positions than does any other region of the country. Moser argues that if Democrats truly courted Southern voters with issues of economic fairness and taxes (issues that, again, apparently Southerners as a whole align much more closely to with Democrats than with Republicans) they could easily win back Southern voters, and turn the South completely blue again. Published in 2008, there is a lot of information about the Republican and Democratic primaries, and a few pages about the punctured hope that John Edwards represented of being one of the few true, Southern, liberal, populist politicians in years. I read the paperback, so it had a new afterword about Obama's election, and that Obama was smart enough to realize the energy and hunger the Southern Democratic base has for a populist, Democratic leader that actually treats them like human beings - and how well that paid off for him. Ultimately a very hopeful and enlightening book for someone like me that does truly love the South, and the people here, but cannot for the life of me figure out why they keep voting against themselves. This book helped me a lot to get some insight about that. It all seems to make perfect sense.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-06-03 00:00:00 Tim Harpster Great, timely read that I wish everyone I worked with had already read! It's no secret all Americans and especially southerners shy away from political cowardice and gravitate towards common sense, plainly stated public policy. I know from personal experience that the South is ready for a progressive message, and I think Moser did a good job compiling examples and interviews to back up that assertion. I wish there was a little more content or that the book had more to say about the last 6 years, but that's due to the publishing date and no fault of the author. Definitely recommended.