Reddit reviews How Democratic is the American Constitution? Second Edition

> It sure as hell ain't democratic, or even a proper republic.

I would argue that it never was

There are a lot of reasons for this. You have a bicameral legislative system that few other countries have. You have no proportional representation. You also have the electoral system that is rigged against people at the bottom of the voting polls (immigrants and minorities).

It's tough being the first democracy, but our democracy needs an upgrade from the 1.0 version.

I think that's an over simplification, as it's a representative democracy. But there are ample checks and balances against the people.

There's a great book by Robert Dahl, How Democratic is the American Constitution. It kind of reads like a whiny checklist of how the US isn't as democratic as it claims to be, but it also does a good job of enumerating the checks against the people and why they're important.

Sometimes institutions move more slowly than public opinion (gay marriage, for example). Other times, public opinion would never move without the institutions acting against the will of the majority (e.g., racial equality/civil rights).

The electoral college no longer serves this purpose, but it was intended as one of these checks against the tyranny of the majority.

For more information on this please see:

Dahl How Democratic is the US Constitution?

Came here to recommend any Joseph Ellis, he has this topic cornered down. Also, it's really interesting to take a step further and look at the Constitution itself...this book is pretty fascinating, plus it's a quick read.