Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System That Shouldn't Work at All Works So Well

Abstract

Americans often wonder if our democratic system of government truly represents the wishes of the people. In Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System That Shouldn’t Work at All Works So Well, Mike Edwards, political scientist and founder of Leftfielder.org, and Danny Oppenheimer, Princeton University psychologist, attempt to make sense of our system by stating and investigating this basic paradox: “If voters are irrational and uninformed, and the election process flawed, why is democracy successful?”