Stupefied Democracy

This election may jolt Americans out of a passive acceptance of civil mythologies.

William Greider

Making Every Vote Count

What we need are election rules that encourage voter turnout rather than suppress it.

Lani Guinier

What Crisis?

There's an easy way to take your own pulse, and that of anyone you know, concerning the vertiginous events of the night of November 7. Was the apparent non-outcome really a "mess" or a crisis? Or was the pre-existing system a sordid mess and a crisis waiting to happen? If you choose the second explanation, then the meltdown of all the fixers and self-appointed gatekeepers and pseudo-experts, as well as being a source of joy, is also an unparalleled opportunity, an occasion for a long-postponed national seminar on democracy and how to get it.

Christopher Hitchens

Divorce, American Style

Katha Pollitt and Our Readers

In Fact…

The Editors

Deregulate the Duopoly

Theodore J. Lowi

The Beat

John Nichols

The Butterfly Election

Jonathan Schell

A Day in the Life of the Palm Beach County Recount

While Bush says counting votes by hand's unfair,
Gore gains--a bubbe here, a zayde there.

Calvin Trillin

Relax, Enjoy the Ride; Democracy Is Doing OK

Robert Scheer