The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding

This bold debut from Guardian columnist Nwanevu calls for a major overhaul of American democracy. Looking to ancient Athens as the supposed forerunner of today’s system, Nwanevu points out that, despite how closely modern democracy is associated with “free and fair elections,” the Greek political system involved very few elections of any kind. Rather, there was a “democratic Assembly open to all full citizens.... who happened to show up,” as well as other collective bodies like “the Council of 500,” which met “nearly every day” and comprised “members selected annually from the citizenry in lotteries.” This kind of direct participation was widely understood as crucial to sustaining a free society, with Aristotle remarking that “the appointment of magistrates by lot is democratic” but “the election of them oligarchical.” Nwanevu spotlights the work of present-day political theorists and activists who advocate for a revival of this classical type of democracy (albeit with a contemporary “sensitivity to... social and economic inequities”), and he outlines how political representation could be achieved through a weighted system of lotteries and forums that replaces much of the legislative work currently done by elected officials. Combining a journalist’s eye for the gritty details of real-world politics with the boundless imagination of an idealist, Nwanevu constructs an impressive edifice from which to look beyond America’s current morass. It amounts to a mind-altering view of the country’s potential. (Aug.)