BOOK REVIEW
CAMPAIGN READING
By Michael Jablonski Law Office of Michael Jablonski michael. jablonski @ comcast. net
II am asked every four years for suggestions about what to read in order to understand the wacky way we select a President. I cannot say“ elect a President” because ordinary voters pick electors in November under the system established in Article II, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution. The actual presidential election takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, as required by 3 U. S. C. § 7, when the 16 electors selected for Georgia in November meet under the gold dome. The votes are recorded in six certificates signed by all the electors, 3 U. S. C. § 9, that are sent separately to the President of the Senate, the Georgia Secretary of State( who must keep them at least a year for public inspection), the Archivist of the United States( two copies), and the chief judge of the federal district court. 3 U. S. C. § 11.
The Twentieth Amendment
At 1:00 in the afternoon of January 6, the current Vice President convenes a joint session of Congress in the Hall of the House of Representatives to open the certificates from each state, in alphabetical order, to certify the election. 3 U. S. C. § 15. Barack Obama and Joe Biden cease to hold their offices, according to the Twentieth Amendment, at precisely noon on January 20. Their successors, having been chosen by electors in each state on December 19, immediately take office.
New Government
The historic and ceremony-filled process leading to the establishment of a new government is just one way in which American democracy is aberrant when compared to that of other countries. The election system employed here does not meet international standards, as is often pointed out by various organizations from other countries that come to monitor the transparency and fairness of our elections.( The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has monitored every US election since 2002.) Making sense of our elections and politics can be overwhelming.
Gonzo Journalism
There are many excellent books analyzing our political system, but many tend to be dry and pedantic. I want to highlight fun to read works that convey the drama and humor of elections. Hunter Thompson’ s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail’ 72 remains one of the best narratives of an election campaign. Thompson wrote serialized pieces for Rolling Stone during the Nixon-McGovern election that were later collected by Straight Arrow Books in this volume. Embedded early with the McGovern campaign, Thompson delivers withering commentary on the mendacity that seems to infuse politics. The book remains an outstanding example of gonzo journalism.
Filtered Information
What you think that you know about politics is mediated. Unless you are able to actively participate in a campaign, the information you receive is filtered by reporters and editors( and increasingly by bloggers). The Boys on the Bus, by Timothy Crouse, captures the mentality of the press corps leading a life of constant travel, constant deadlines, and a constant need to file something – anything – that might make for good reading over morning coffee. Crouse wrote about how the press actually covered the 1972 election not by analyzing their output but by reporting what journalists actually do based on observations in their natural habitats. The way that the press covers candidates has changed. The press corps is no longer largely male. Laptops, smartphones, and tablets long ago replaced typewriters and dictating stories over landline phones. The sensibility of covering campaigns, however, endures. Crouse’ s book entertains while communicating a sense of the problems faced by reporters.
Buckley
I might be the sole fan of the next book. The Unmaking of a Mayor by William F. Buckley, Jr., details Buckley’ s impossibly hopeless campaign for New York mayor in 1966.( In his now famous announcement speech Buckley stated that if elected
16 May 2016