Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening—and Our Best Hope

Columbia Law School professor Purdy debuts with an unflinching yet hopeful study of democracy’s origins, shortcomings, and enduring importance. Rising economic inequality, unchecked climate change, political polarization, and other contemporary crises “are not evidence that democracy is failing,” Purdy argues, “but symptoms of our failure to be democratic.” Pushing back against “political nihilism” on both the right and the left, he contends that democracy is the only political system that “makes real” the belief that “people are equal and free and can shape our lives accordingly” and traces the development of democratic ideals and institutions from Aristotle to Thomas Hobbes to James Madison to 20th-century political theorist Robert Dahl, who argued that “American politics was founded on a deep consensus about the goodness of the country’s political and economic institutions.” Throughout, Purdy bolsters his counterintuitive claims—including that the Constitution, which is “exceedingly difficult” to amend, may be inimical to democracy—with erudite analysis of the law, philosophy, economics, and popular culture. Unfortunately, the path to his proposed solutions, including a single primary system in which the top two vote getters, regardless of party affiliation, proceed to the general election, remains unclear. Still, this stimulating defense of democracy provides much food for thought. (Aug.)