American Democracy

Each election reform category listed on this page is designed to help you explore the many ways American democracy can be improved and to expose you to the ongoing debates of experts in the field. This is the battle to save American democracy.

Rebirth of American Democracy

The most important and revolutionary attribute of the American republican form of government has always been that it utilizes a system of popular elections to fill key positions. As everyone knows, the first American elections were only for white landowning men. But despite these extreme limits on access and often violent policy making (Native American genocide and the institution of slavery in particular), it really was the world’s first mass democratic election. This wasn’t an election among a few thousand nobility in a single city.

In George Washington’s first election in 1789, nearly one million people voted in an honest contest to choose their own leadership. The Founding Fathers‘ greatest legacy is that the country has been holding increasingly inclusive free and fair elections at the national, state and local levels at least every two years for over 230 years without interruption. Despite all the faults of the Founding Fathers, this is quite a legacy.

That being said, the quality of elections in modern America is arguably worse than it used to be. Democracy Chronicles hopes to include the latest news on all efforts to examine and reform American elections and to expose our readers to discussion on this topic in such a way as to reflect the diversity of debate on the subject. This rigorous focus on every aspect of election law in the United States should be interesting to even international readers and we have intentionally set up our website to place American democracy news right next to our coverage on world democracy. After all, the struggle for more democracy is universal.

Join the American Democracy Movement With DC!

We are actively looking for creative new contributors so please get in touch if you would like to join our team. We are expanding coverage of international and American democracy. We want to hear from people from all kind of backgrounds and perspectives. Republican Party or Green Party, in Brooklyn or Bangladesh, we are looking for people who want to join the democracy fight. You can also take a look at our Political Art page for political artists of all kinds that highlights the original work of numerous Democracy Chronicles authors.