Christopher H. Achen is Professor of Social Sciences and Politics at Princeton University. Larry M. Bartels is Professor of Public Policy and Social Science from Vanderbilt University. They coauthored Democracy for Realists – Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, which deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They challenge just about every existing school of thought about electoral politics, policy making, and government performance. They give no quarter to any notion that responsive government is possible without a more responsible citizenry. They argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters.
They demonstrate that voters―even those who are well informed and politically engaged―mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents’ control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly.
The public officials need to get certain examines before their being qualify for entering elections ( not just money). And what we looking for in a public servant requires both talents and virtues. They need to demonstration what policies they are planning to carry out. And as for us voters, one thing we can do at this point is to raise the standard of qualification as responsible citizenry. It is absurd that anyone can give votes regardless whether they have a basic understanding of the systems we are working on. The following are some basic books I recommend, maybe can be used for future source of multiple choices exams before qualification to vote? Just my two cents.
- Communism and the Conscience of the West by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen 2022
- Thinking in Systems, by Donella H. Meadows 2008
- Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad 2021
- The new Leviathians – Thoughts After Liberalism by John Gray 2023
- The Demon in Democracy – Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies by Ryszard legutko with foreword by John o’Sullivan 2016
- How Democracies Die by Steven Levisky
- Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Ann Applebaum 2021
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder 2017
- The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual by Ward Farnsworth 2025
- The Socratic Method: A Practitioner’s Handbook by Ward Farnsworth 2021
- Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? by Katrine Marcal 2016
- The Undercover Economist Strike Back by Harford, 2015
- Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth 2018
- How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis by Peter Kreeft 2002
- Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward by Nabeel Qureshi 2016
- When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Walt Bogdanich 2018
- The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi 2020
- The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today by Rick Maybury 1999 (Maybury does not take sides – he thinks both sides are wrong- but does show how the American government (not the American people) has instigated the current version of the “1,000 Year War”. Not if one wishes to learn in detail of what has happened and when. However, if one wanted to learn the why of these events, this book is invaluable.)