<x-flowed>I received this message from my former FairVote colleague Steven Hill, now with the New America Foundation. Steven is an astute, provocative political analyst and electoral reformer, and he reports that this book may have particular use in university classrooms.

Rob Richie

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From:  Steven Hill, New America Foundation

Dear friends and colleagues,

I thought you might be interested to know that my next book, "10 Steps to
Repair American Democracy," will be in the bookstores in May
(PoliPointPress, $11.00). The book is a brief, practical "one-stop shoppers'
guide" to what's broken about democracy in the USA, and what Americans can
do to repair it.

The Introduction presents an overview showing that American democracy has
been working about as well as the levees around New Orleans. This is
followed by 10 chapters (each chapter being a "step"/solution) covering the
voting equipment/election administration issue, Electoral College/direct
election of the president, instant runoff voting, campaign finance reform,
media reform, universal voter registration, term limits for Supreme Court
justices, overhaul of the U.S. Senate, proportional representation and the
end of winner-take-all elections/redistricting abuses, and more.  Instead of
reading four or five or six different books -- one on the Electoral College,
another on voting equipment, yet another on campaign finance reform, media
reform, redistricting or instant runoff voting -- who has time for so much
reading! -- "10 Steps" gives you a brief overview of all of these, plus
practical, solution-oriented steps so that even a person with minimal time
can participate in transforming our democracy.

The book also includes a powerful foreword by New Yorker columnist Hendrik
Hertzberg.  In short, "10 Steps" presents an overall vision for how American
democracy could be -- no, how it WILL be -- and a blueprint for how to get
there.  All for 11 bucks (or as one reader wrote back, "$1.10 per step"
;-). What a bargain, eh?

Also, I will be doing a book tour in June or so, most likely in the cities
of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Madison, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and New York, and perhaps a few other
cities. If your organization is willing to co-sponsor the talk in your city,
please let me know.

Be looking for "10 Steps" in your local bookstores and on the usual web
sites. And please spread the word (i.e. forward this e-mail to your own
lists). Sorry in advance if you receive this notice more than once. Thanks.

Steven Hill

P.S. Below is the Table of Contents, giving you more of a flavor for the
book.

Table of Contents

Introduction:  America's Faltering Republic
1.  Secure the Vote
2.  Expand Voter Participation
3.  Increase Voter Choice with Instant Runoff Voting
4.  Scrap Winner-Take-All Elections
5.  Direct Election of the President
6.  Overhaul the U.S. Senate
7.  Reclaim the Airwaves
8.  Minimize Money's Role
9.  Reform the Supreme Court
10. Restore Faith in Government: "Government Is Good for You"
Conclusion: Renewing the American Republic



Rob Richie
Executive Director

F a i r V o t e
The Center for Voting and Democracy
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
www.fairvote.org
rr@fairvote.org
(301) 270-4616 


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