A democracy advocate demonstrates how our current voting system violates political equality and majority rule and proposes a simple but bold solution: save democracy by fulfilling its principles.

In Democracy Without Violence, entrepreneur Robbie Robinette poses the first question we should ask when trying to understand our dysfunctional political world: Are our political problems a reflection of a divided society, or is politics dividing us? By creating simulations of our voting system in an ideal world, Robinette unravels the forces that are driving our society apart. 

What he finds is that it is not us. It is the flaws in our elections—the rules for casting and counting ballots—that systematically violate majority rule and political equality. Robinette shows that this does more than change who we elect. It creates incentives that reward the divisive and toxic behavior that has become all too familiar. We don’t need better politicians; we need better rules.

In this hopeful, practical book, Robinette uses simple examples to illustrate how a new voting system would make everyone equal when they step into the voting booth. To understand why it’s hard to gain support for such a shift, he shares the intellectual history of our elections, beginning with Hamilton and Madison’s foundation in The Federalist Papers and carrying through to today’s debates about where our Founding Fathers went wrong. He then turns to the future, laying out the positive changes that would occur if we adopt different voting rules.

Violence, both rhetorical and literal, has become ingrained in our politics. Democracy Without Violence contends that the United States can choose a different path—one of true democratic representation, less political polarization, and peace.