Let the People Pick the President
The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College
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Narrated by:
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Jesse Wegman
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By:
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Jesse Wegman
About this listen
"People have been arguing against the Electoral College from the beginning. But no one, at least in recent years, has laid out the case as comprehensively and as readably as Jesse Wegman does in 'Let the People Pick the President.'" (The New York Times Book Review)
This program is read by the author
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?
Twice in the last five elections, the Electoral College has overridden the popular vote, calling the integrity of the entire system into question - and creating a false picture of a country divided into bright red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. Even when the popular-vote winner becomes president, tens of millions of Americans - Republicans and Democrats alike - find that their votes didn't matter. And, with statewide winner-take-all rules, only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president.
Now, as political passions reach a boiling point at the dawn of the 2020 race, the message from the American people is clear: The way we vote for the only official whose job it is to represent all Americans is neither fair nor just. Major reform is needed - now. Isn't it time to let the people pick the president?
In this thoroughly researched and engaging call to arms, Supreme Court journalist and New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from 21st-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. In Let the People Pick the President, he shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count - and restore belief in our democratic system.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
"Wegman combines in-depth historical analysis and insight into contemporary politics to present a cogent argument that the Electoral College violates America's 'core democratic principles' and should be done away with...." (Publishers Weekly)
©2020 Jesse Wegman (P)2020 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.
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Good as an intro, skip if you’re a wonk
- By Tony on 01-29-20
By: Ezra Klein
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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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Had It Coming
- Rape Culture Meets #MeToo: Now What? (Sunlight Editions)
- By: Robyn Doolittle
- Narrated by: Alison J. Palmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Doolittle brings a personal voice to what has been a turning point for most women: the #MeToo movement and its aftermath. The world is now increasingly aware of the pervasiveness of rape culture in which powerful men got away with sexual assault and harassment for years, but Doolittle looks beyond specific cases to the big picture. The issue of "consent" figures largely: not only is the public confused about what it means, but an astounding number of legal authorities are too.
By: Robyn Doolittle
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The Everything American Government Book
- From the Constitution to Present-Day Elections, All You Need to Understand Our Democratic System
- By: Nick Ragone
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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If the confusion following the last presidential election is any indication, the average citizen knows precious little about the democratic system and the laws that affect their daily lives. The Everything American Government Book unravels the complexities of our democracy and provides listeners with the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions and take an active role in the management of their country. This thoroughly researched work is ideal for anyone brushing up on civics, as well as students of all ages.
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A solid understanding of local, state and national political structure...
- By Amazon Customer on 12-25-19
By: Nick Ragone
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Working Class Republican
- Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism
- By: Henry Olsen
- Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Conventional political wisdom views the two most consequential presidents of the 20th century - FDR and Ronald Reagan - as ideological opposites. FDR is hailed as the champion of big-government progressivism manifested in the New Deal. Reagan is seen as the crusader for conservatism dedicated to small government and free markets. But Henry Olsen argues that this assumption is wrong.
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Refreshing and insightful
- By Thomas Marks on 12-16-19
By: Henry Olsen
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What It Took to Win
- A History of the Democratic Party
- By: Michael Kazin
- Narrated by: Lee Goettl
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
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In What It Took to Win, the eminent historian Michael Kazin identifies and assesses the Democratic Party's long-running commitment to creating "moral capitalism" - a system that mixed entrepreneurial freedom with the welfare of workers and consumers. And yet the same party that championed the rights of the white working man also vigorously protected or advanced the causes of slavery, segregation, and Indian removal.
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Timely and informative History Book
- By Asha Sceanca on 03-24-22
By: Michael Kazin
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American Secession
- The Looming Threat of a National Breakup
- By: F. H. Buckley
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Americans have never been more divided, and we're ripe for a breakup. The bitter partisan animosities, the legislative gridlock, the growing acceptance of violence in the name of political virtue - it all invites us to think that we'd be happier were we two different countries. There's another reason why secession beckons, says F. H. Buckley: we're too big. In population and area, the United States is one of the biggest countries in the world, and American Secession provides data showing that smaller countries are happier and less corrupt.
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GREAT TO MAKE YOU THINK
- By Brian on 03-01-23
By: F. H. Buckley
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The Embattled Vote in America
- From the Founding to the Present
- By: Allan J. Lichtman
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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America's political leaders have considered suffrage not a natural right but a privilege restricted by wealth, sex, race, residence, literacy, criminal conviction, and citizenship. Today, voter identification laws, political gerrymandering, registration requirements, felon disenfranchisement, and voter purges deny many millions of citizens the opportunity to express their views at the ballot box. We cannot blame the founders alone for America's embattled vote. Best-selling author Allan Lichtman notes that subsequent generations have failed to establish suffrage as a universal right.
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Old Hat ...
- By Richard D. Parker on 01-17-19
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Trumpocalypse
- Restoring American Democracy
- By: David Frum
- Narrated by: David Frum
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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A huge swath of Americans have put their faith in Trump, and Trump only, because they see the rest of the country building a future that doesn't have a place for them. If they would risk their lives for Trump in a pandemic, they will certainly risk the stability of American democracy. They brought the Trumpocalypse upon the country, and a post-Trumpocalypse country will have to find a way either to reconcile them to democracy - or to protect democracy from them.
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Trump More Dangerous Than the Axis of Evil
- By J.B. on 05-26-20
By: David Frum
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Lincoln's Mentors
- The Education of a Leader
- By: Michael J. Gerhardt
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
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A novel and brilliant look at how Abraham Lincoln mastered the art of leadership: acclaimed historian Michael J. Gerhardt, who appeared during the impeachment proceedings of President Trump, reveals how a group of five men mentored an obscure lawyer with no executive experience to become American’s greatest leader
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Interesting book
- By Brian on 03-07-21
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Rule and Ruin
- The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party
- By: Geoffrey Kabaservice
- Narrated by: Michael Bulter Murray
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The chaotic events leading up to Mitt Romney's defeat in the 2012 election indicated how far the Republican Party had rocketed rightward away from the center of public opinion. Republicans in Congress threatened to shut down the government and force a U.S. debt default. Tea Party activists mounted primary challenges against Republican officeholders who appeared to exhibit too much pragmatism or independence. Moderation and compromise were dirty words in the Republican presidential debates. The GOP, it seemed, had suddenly become a party of ideological purity. Except this development is not new at all.
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Kabaservice doesn't make the case
- By MJE on 01-22-16
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Great read!
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What listeners say about Let the People Pick the President
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Emily
- 11-18-20
Really informative
The beginning of the book was sometimes a little slow, but I found the book overall incredibly informative and helpful for understanding the electoral college and the arguments for and against it. I appreciated that the analysis was fact based more than opinion based. I had seen a documentary recently arguing for the electoral college, but found it mostly emotion based and not factual, and this was a refreshing change from that. I'll definitely be recommending it to my friends and family.
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- Taylor
- 04-21-20
eye opening
Cool perspective on the electoral college and the history that surrounds it. The narrator is great as well
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- Chris Swan
- 03-22-20
Outstanding Summary of the National Popular Vote
Excellent book about making our politics work better. National popular vote and rank voting is the answer.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Justin D. Sweeney
- 11-14-20
Every American should read this book!
I was skeptical of the EC going in to this read...now I’m 100% convinced it needs to be abolished.
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- Sagid Manriquez
- 06-18-20
Amazing book!
Well-researched and non-biased book. Congrats to Jesse Wegman for writing such an interesting, factual, and intellectually stimulating book!
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- Billy
- 06-09-20
Definitely Worth a Listen, but be critical
On the whole, I think this book is worth listening to and discussing. I entered the book expecting the same general arguments. While those are present, the author does go into a bit more history and a few deeper arguments than other texts. (However, as the author notes, it is not an all-encompassing list.)
Two things I would submit to while you listen. (1) Chapter 7 deals with an inter-state compact. It's certainly an interesting proposition, but the Supreme Court has heard a set of cases that might turn that chapter on its head. The decisions are not yet available so I cannot say the author is incorrect, but the Chapter assumes presidential electors are free agents. That may not be accurate depending on the outcome of Baca. (2) The author's operating concept a republic is incorrect. He frames it as a representative democracy (akin to Athens) when it is really quite different. One hallmark of a republic is layers between the leader and the governed. That said, this definitional change does not substantively alter the arguments of the book.
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- CJFLA
- 06-25-20
Simple logic
An excellent explanation of the electoral college and why it should not exist. The fact that less than one million people in certain key precincts will determine who wins the 2020 presidential election is mind boggling. Every vote needs to count. Period.
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- I know where you live
- 08-06-20
Well Done 👏 ✔
I highly recommend this to anyone that is registered to vote in America or wants to learn more about a controversial topic that has played a direct role in how the US has taken shape since James Wilson and James Madison both helped forge the governing document that laid the foundation for how we pick our president.
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- Liam Krammer
- 11-17-20
INSPIRING!
Great content! Loved the definitive viewpoints on both sides of this issue. Well balanced & easy to understand. Thank you, Mr. Wegman & Reed Hunt for sparking your interest. 🇺🇸
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- Joe Ganem III
- 08-03-20
Required reading in schools and universities for anyone wanting to preserve US democracy
We are almost 250 years beyond the founding of this great country and are still clinging to a vestige of compromise aimed at preserving racism and slavery in the south to get their approval of that document. We are long overdue to eliminate the electoral college impact on electing the presidency. Jesse Wegman does an outstanding job of charting the historical course that got us to where we are today and makes a compelling case for changing to a popular vote elected president. He carefully navigates us through a series of well worn myths and gives us the facts necessary to make the case. We should all push our politicians to vote in favor of the state cmpact binding all electoral votes to the popular vote winner and therefore bypass the pain of changing the constitution and removing the electoral college. We can do this before the 2024 election. The past four years of a non-popularly elected presidency, in of itself, should be enough motivation for us to fix an intolerable system the overrides the importance of one person one vote.
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