these perceptions are widespread, reflected in a decade’s
worth of book titles from some of the nation’s leading political commentators – book titles such
as Democracy’s Discontent, Demosclerosis, Why Americans Hate Politics, The End of Politics,
Why Americans Don’t Vote, The Corruption of American Politics, and Democracy Derailed, to
name just a few.
And yet, for all their distance and disenchantment, Americans are not ready to walk away for
good. They are nearly unanimous in believing that democracy is the best form of government,
even if it does need a tune-up at the hands of a good civic mechanic. And recent experience
shows that Americans eagerly respond to straight-talking, energetic, non-conventional leaders
with new ideas for making democracy work again. For example:
• In 1992, to the shock of political pundits, nearly 20 million voters supported the third-party
candidacy of the iconoclastic Texas billionaire Ross Perot after he used television infomercials
(replete with his now-famous graphs and charts) to call attention to issues, such as the then-
staggering budget deficit, that the major party candidates were keeping off the agenda.
• In 1998, a no-nonsense former professional wrestler named Jesse Ventura stunned the political
world by capturing the Minnesota governorship, the highest office ever won by a Reform
Party candidate. With his charisma and bare-knuckled populist appeals – one of his television
ads had a Jesse Ventura action figure battling “Special Interest Man” – the political novice
managed to excite young people and non-voters, who gave him the margin of victory over two
respected major party candidates.
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