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Charlotte Talks: American Democracy Is Struggling. How Can We Fix It?

Ecco Press

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

From the coronavirus pandemic to reckoning with systemic racism, America is facing multiple crises, all during an election year. Author David Litt argues the only way to truly resolve these conflicts is to revitalize our democracy from the ground up.

Some of our current struggles are obvious. During Georgia’s primary just a few weeks ago, voters waited up to four hours as brand-new voting equipment malfunctioned. And between 2012 and 2016, Georgia purged 1.5 million voters from its rolls.

President Trump’s 200th judicial nominee was recently confirmed by the Senate, making the federal judiciary significantly conservative for years to come.

Meanwhile polls show a majority of Americans want gun reform, action on climate change and a more effective response to the coronavirus, but Congress has done little to implement change.

Why is there a chasm between what the people want and what our leaders do? How do we repair our political system before it’s too late?

Author David Litt joins us to discuss the ways our democracy has failed us and what can be done to fix it.

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David Litt, former senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and author of Democracy in One Book Or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn't, and Why Fixing It is Easier Thank You Think

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Jesse Steinmetz is Producer of Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Before joining WFAE in 2019, he was an intern at WNPR in Hartford, Connecticut and hosted a show at Eastern Connecticut State University.