How America Works... and Why it Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the US Political System

by William Cooper

Twenty-first-century America isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. This book explains why.

Americans in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly untethered from both reality and the essential principles and traditions that have shaped the nation’s historic success. A big part of why America isn’t working is because far too many Americans neither know nor care how it’s supposed to work.

Cooper explains key aspects of recent US political history to give the background to recent, dangerous developments, including how political groups have reshaped since the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the rise of Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party; the profound impact of the internet and social media; and the threats posed to the electoral system by the growth of extreme polarization and growing irrationality.

Cooper shows how these recent developments have their roots in the deeper past, with the establishment of the political system in the first place and all the knocks and tweaks to it along the way. He also reveals how, as a result of increasing politicisation, the US Supreme Court is now exacerbating polarization instead of acting as an effective check on executive power.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Government, American History, Audiobook, Political Science

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2024

About the author

William Cooper is the author of The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld: A Novel. An attorney and national columnist, his writings have appeared in hundreds of publications globally including the New York Times, CNN, Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, Huffington Post, Toronto Star, and Jerusalem Post. Publishers Weekly calls his commentary about American politics “a compelling rallying cry for democratic institutions under threat in America.” Visit him online at will-cooper.com.

Reviews

[William Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's an updated review for the new edition, which includes analysis of Donald Trump's second presidency.

A frenzy of polarization and misgovernance has engulfed American politics. Actors and institutions—on both sides of the political divide—are silencing disfavored speech. Prosecutors around the country are criminalizing politics. The Republican party is openly sabotaging the electoral
system. And a new breed of social-media celebrities in Congress is failing to address myriad public-policy failures, from a broken immigration system to hugely expensive and dysfunctional healthcare to staggering economic inequality.

All around the world people are asking: What’s wrong with America? Why isn’t it working?

The answer isn’t one of the common partisan narratives. It isn’t the “radical progressives” who want to tear the system down. Nor is it the “deplorable conservatives” who want to punish America’s elites. It’s not a dysfunctional, gridlocked Congress. Nor is it a right-wing, reactionary Supreme Court. It’s not an out-of-touch Democratic party. Nor is it a Republican party emboldened by Donald Trump’s second presidency.

The answer, rather, is broader than any narrow category or single person. The answer is the American people themselves.

A nation is, above all, the hearts and minds of its people. And Americans in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly untethered from both reality and the essential principles and traditions that have shaped their nation’s historic success. A big part of why America isn’t working is
because far too many Americans neither know nor care how it’s supposed to work.

The root cause of this mania is the combination of three deeply connected things. The first is tribalism. Americans, like all humans, have deep tribal roots. This expresses itself in powerful biases in favor of one’s own political clan—and searing antipathy for the other side. The second is
social media. Sophisticated algorithms behind major online platforms exploit Americans’ cognitive vulnerabilities and intensify their tribal prejudices. And the third is the structure of the US political system itself. The two-party system amplifies and exacerbates polarization by pitting two
juggernauts (Democrats and Republicans) against each other in a bitter, all-consuming rivalry—and gerrymandering, closed primaries, and the Electoral College compound the problem.

This flywheel spins faster every day. And it’s culminating in two overlapping threats to the American experiment. The first is the criminalization of politics, as prosecutors from around the country set their sights on partisan rivals. Since every political salvo must be met with greater opposite force, this has set in motion a pernicious dynamic that is spiraling into catastrophe.

The second threat involves the central premise of American government: the sanctity of the
vote. America’s election system is under attack. And not just by ineffectual zealots at the margins of power or howling mobs in the street, but by the Republican party’s undisputed leader, Donald Trump, and his loyalists throughout federal and state government.

This book explains how America’s political dysfunction has been gaining momentum for years—and how it’s unlikely to get better anytime soon. It doesn’t really matter who has the presidency any given year. It doesn’t really matter which party controls congress at any point in time. And it doesn’t really matter if Donald Trump is in the Oval Office, at Trump Tower, or in jail. The American people—330 million strong—will determine the nation’s course in the coming months, years, and decades.

More than anything else, this book is about the long-term trends that will shape this future. It has two parts. Part One (Chapters 1–5) explains how America works. Chapter 1 places the American experiment into historical context. Chapter 2 tells the story of the United States Constitution—
its background, construction, and reasoning. Chapter 3 focuses on the worst provisions in the Constitution—which protected slavery and still protect guns—and traces their impact throughout American history. Chapter 4 turns to the essential Constitutional principles that have shaped America for the better: separation of powers, federalism, and free speech. Chapter 5 analyzes essential traditions that aren’t in the Constitution but are nonetheless central to the American story: the two-party political system, the rule of law, and
capitalism.

Part Two (Chapters 6–11) explains why America isn’t working. Chapter 6 examines the root cause of Americans’ irrationality: the combination of tribalism, social media, and structural defects in the political system. Chapter 7 homes in on the political dysfunction that this combination produces.
Chapter 8 walks through numerous public-policy failures that America’s gridlocked government fails to address. Chapter 9 warns of the two biggest threats to American democracy: criminalizing politics and undermining election integrity. Chapter 10 analyzes Donald Trump’s second presidency, then finally, Chapter 11 looks ahead and assesses America’s role in the world in the future.

Twenty-first-century America isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. This book explains why.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not an American and the US political system has had me entirely baffled for a very long time so when I saw the title of this book I jumped at the chance to read it.

And in present times understanding the situation in the US seems more important than ever. (As an aside I wrote this review the day after an assassination attempt had been made on Trump's life at a rally.)

This is a great book for someone like me who understood nothing about America's civic system. William Cooper has written a well balanced account of what the system is and how it is being manipulated by various modern forces. Believe me when I say he pulls no punches. Blame isn't apportioned to one side or the other. He sets out the system, how it works and why it is breaking down. He also provides a solution - the American people themselves.

How much of this information you need or choose to take on board is up to you. All I can say is that I have a much better understanding of the way US politics works and the dangers it faces in the current climate. An excellent book.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Ad Lib Publishers for the advance review copy.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very happy to have read and now to leave a tiny review of my GR friend William's book. This is indeed a brief guide (200 pages); easily and highly readable nonpartisan attempt to answer the question of what is not working in America's political system. The reader is reminded (or if new to it), of the foundations of the American government, the branches of government, and of the Constitution and the main two party system. Mr. Cooper touches on tribalism and the rise of social media as a negative influence.

[Tom LA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatively short but extremely readable book that summarizes the very complex topic of the American political institutions — how they are supposed to work, and why, in the author’s opinion, they don’t.

It’s a great analysis of the current U.S. situation (in relation to the past), which is already such a feat in itself, because the author could just as well have written a 18,000 pages book with the same title, but he was able to keep it very concise.

I learned many things from this book about the U.S. system, that were not clear to me before. They are found mainly in the first part.

As to the second part, which focuses on “why the US doesn’t seem to work”, I’m not entirely in agreement with the author, mainly because I see this as a matter of perspective. Let me explain: as an Italian, I have lived through much worse political garbage than what I’m seeing in the US today (as ugly as it is), and my message to my American friends is: cheer up! Sometimes you guys forget how good you have it, in the US, relatively speaking!

Keep in mind that you have political institutions that are strong enough to resist many things, including Trump and the derangement syndrome that he caused. Keeping a healthy government cycle every “n” years, as originally intended, is not something that’s easy or even common in the West itself: look at what just happened in the last 3 years in the UK, with the constant parade of prime ministers, or look at the 69 governments that Italy has had since WWII (average duration: 1.11 years).

Since it’s absolutely impossible to write a book like this without letting your own political sentiment transpire, towards the end the author’s left bias is noticeable. However, I would still consider this a balanced and fair analysis.

[Jamie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A nation is, above all, the hearts and minds of its people. And Americans in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly untethered from both reality and the essential principles and traditions that have shaped their nation’s historic success. A big part of why America isn’t working is because far too many Americans neither know nor care how it’s supposed to work.”

This is a timely and important book; it will educate and inform you, then it will depress the hell out of you. It is divided into two parts. The first looks at the structures of American government as they were implemented by the Founding Fathers, including both the noble experiments in liberty and justice, and the ignoble accommodations of the Southern states regarding slavery.

The consequences of slavery reached far beyond the Civil War, and still show their poisonous effects today. The South had been solidly Democrat for a hundred years until Lyndon Johnson oversaw passage of the Civil Rights Act. The idea that Blacks were now to be treated as human beings and full citizens enraged many southerners and Nixon was able to bring them into the Republican party by using racist dog whistles like “law and order,” and “states’ rights.” The election of Barack Obama in 2012 showed that this kind of unreconstructed racism thrives in parts of the country to this day. “Obama’s presidency deeply unsettled and angered millions of Americans not ready for a Black president. And Trump’s hostility to minorities (sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, always cunning) drives his popularity among many Republicans, particularly in southern states.” Without Obama, Trump would not have been possible.

In the years between the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and the Constitutional Convention in 1789 America’s Founding Fathers thought deeply about the kind of permanent government the country should have. They were well versed in history, and knew that in the past democracies were often short-lived, so they searched for ways to strengthen the sinews of government. They settled on the idea of separation of powers and checks and balances between the branches of government; “the founders’ principal (and overlapping) aims for the Constitution were threefold. The first was to create a representative democracy that gave the American people (narrowly defined) a stake in their own government. The second aim was to prevent the concentration of government power in too few hands. And the third was to accept and harness the realities of human nature in a system that would last.”

The resulting constitution is a brilliant document that enshrines important rights and the policies needed to make them last, but it was the sorry realities of human nature which led to the Convention’s compromises, bargains, and failings. These include not just slavery, bad as that was, but the hypocrisy that a nation founded on the idea that “all men are created equal” extended the franchise to only a fraction of its population: land holding white males, while excluding women, people of color, and poor white men.

The second part of the book looks at the state of the Union today, and it a dismal picture. To his credit the author tries to be objective, and pulls up examples of malfeasance from both parties, but the Democratic samples pale in comparison to their opponents: “The Republicans, meanwhile, are an unfathomable train wreck. Led by Donald Trump and energized by a band of nihilistic zealots in the House of Representatives, the party stands for little more than causing trouble.” The one-time party of law and embraces a constitutional coup; the erstwhile defenders of democracy openly fawn over despots in Russia, Hungary, and North Korea; the supposed fiscal hawks support a candidate whose first term increased the national debt by seven trillion dollars.

Contrast George Washington, who set an example by voluntarily resigned after two terms, leading George III of England to reportedly say, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” And now, “American politics overflows with false assertions and exaggerated rhetoric. Every. Single. Day. But it’s stone-cold accurate to say this: Donald Trump tried to commit a coup after the 2020 presidential election.”

It’s not just the two parties and their elected representatives. The Supreme Court, empowered by a 6-3 hyper-partisan conservative majority, is a clear and present danger to the life and liberty of every American. Their decisions are no longer well reasoned extensions of constitutional interpretation backed by two centuries of precedent and lower court rulings; they now impose their personal beliefs on everyone. The majority decision which overturned Roe v. Wade and the one which greatly expanding the interpretation of the Second Amendment went far beyond what was necessary. “A very small number of lawyers dressed in robes leaned deep into the darkest corners of American tribalism and polarization and forced all Americans to toe their line. They did so at precisely the wrong time. In precisely the wrong way. And not because they had to—but simply because they could.”

Another of the author’s concerns is with the two-party system, which “amplifies and exacerbates polarization by pitting two juggernauts (Democrats and Republicans) against each other in a bitter, all-consuming rivalry—and gerrymandering, closed primaries, and the Electoral College compound the problem.” I had not previously thought this was one of the big problems the country is facing today, but he makes a good point. I always considered myself an independent, with little regard for either Party, but polarization has made independence an increasingly untenable position: If you hate Party A, your only choice is Party B even if you think it is not much better. You have been co-opted into voting for it simply because the alternative seems worse. Choosing a third party candidate is not just throwing your vote away; by taking a vote from Party B you are helping Party A.

There is still much that is good in the United States, much to be proud of and hopeful for. Poverty is down, literacy is up, life expectancy for many parts of the population continues to rise. There are billions of people in this world who would give anything to live here. And there is still great resilience in our systems; we have faced and overcome challenges before. It is not hopeless, but we should never forget the stakes: if democracy slips from our grasp once it will be gone for good, and Donald Trump’s remark that people who help him win the next election will never need to vote again should make your blood run cold.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Cooper asked me to review his book 📕 on good reads sooo…. I tried the best i could to make it what it is…..

How america thinks everyone is idiots but when youve surrounded your country with an idiot(s) who is the idiot….

Most would hope that elected officials would be actually stewarded for the position, not radio hosts leading the sheeple and changing the lighting for theatrics.

How America works and why it doesn’t,

I could see AI technology making slavery profitable again kind of like the Cotton Weaver prolonged slavery way after it should have been done away beforehand.,, instead poverty wages to buy the bare minimum for 60% of the population could easily become the 80% of population with AI 🤖


Even if we can cajole youth to stay through high school for few extra years will there economic disadvantages disappear 🫠

Highly doubt this we’re not as a society rewarding education but intelligence.
The bell curve on education and affirmative action plans in schools has to do with post modernism and moderates and less to do with partisanship.

### 1. **Society and Education**
- Society measures success and value through post-secondary education, but this may no longer correlate with actual intelligence.
- Education is often mistaken for true understanding or wisdom.
- Post-secondary institutions are becoming obsolete practiced or insufficient in measuring societal progress.

### 2. **Historical Perspectives and Power Dynamics**
- The concept of "antebellum" (before war) and its historical significance, especially in the context of the American South.
- The struggle between different societal groups (e.g., Dixiecrats vs. antebellum elites) and the weapons, organization, and social control involved.
- The idea that winners write history, and how narratives can be mythologized or distorted over time.

### 3. **Societal Control and Authority**
- The oligarchy in the South and the role of official officials in controlling the population.
- Societies are measured by education (not necessarily intelligence), money, debt, ownership, and power.
- Society's tendency to repeat cycles of progress and regression ("one step forward, two steps back").
- The potential for AI and technology to make slavery or exploitation profitable again.
- Concerns about emerging authoritarianism disguised as powerful leaders or systems.

### 4. **Youth, War, and Society**
- The destructive role of youth in societal conflict, often en scripted to wage war against older generations.
- Reflections on war, youth, and societal divisions, inspired by literature like *C.S. Lewis*'s works and *A Clockwork Orange*.
- The idea that youth make the "great divorce"—a metaphor for generational and societal separation or alienation.

### 5. **Personal Reflections and Paranoia**
- Experiences with head and spinal injuries impacting youth and perception.
- The plausibility of paranoia about societal manipulation and authoritarian control.
- Recognizing one's own craziness or paranoia, and the difficulty in discerning truth from fiction.
- The tendency to "make things up" or interpret reality selectively ("hysterical or pareidolia to apophenia").

### 6. **Optimism and Future Outlook**
- Hope for the future despite current fears.
- The importance of being aware and vigilant about hidden authoritarianism and fanaticism.

### 7. **Small Moments & Personal Anecdote**
- A friend finding a US nickel on the ground—a reminder of life's small, grounding moments amid broader concerns.

Great question! Here's a clear distinction between **apophenia** and **pareidolia**:

### **Apophenia**
- **Definition:** The tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections in random, meaningless data.
- **Scope:** Broad; applies to **any type of sensory input or data**, including visual, auditory, or abstract information.
- **Examples:** Seeing meaningful patterns in chaotic data sets, believing in conspiracy theories based on coincidental events, or noticing connections between unrelated events.

### **Pareidolia**
- **Definition:** A specific type of apophenia that involves perceiving recognizable patterns or images—most often **visual patterns**—where none exist.
- **Scope:** Focused on **visual stimuli**.
- **Examples:** Seeing faces in clouds, images in inanimate objects like electrical outlets or stains, or Jesus in a toast burn.

---

### Summary:
- **Apophenia** is a **general cognitive tendency** to find meaningful connections in meaningless data.
- **Pareidolia** is a **specific manifestation** of apophenia, primarily involving **visual perception** of familiar shapes or patterns.

The draft of this is….after….
Some
Books 📚 leading up to this review are very suggestive in my opinion

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Omar El Akkad

They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America
Complacent
Sarah Kendzior

How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who
Outwitted Hitler
Peter Pomerantsev

The Technological Society
Jacques Ellul
(The technology revolution is not going to need a bandaid theatrics changing lighting on trade profiteering conspiracy tin foil hat mental(metal) horders to become controversial millionaires who can’t read a book and are not stewarded for positions beside have religious freedoms that are worst the freedom of speech on gagging orders from religious freedoms and manufacture discontents but full on gauze and arm cast and surgery from bleeding 🩸 out the poor wealth to the wealthy -Ray Dalio “ pretty much says if you don’t understand credit or debt…. With the Industrial Revolution the de-industrialization revolution to the economy revolution…


Liberalism and Its Discontents
Francis Fukuyama
“40% of jobs are working for below the poverty line and have no benefits….”

Consequences of Capitalism:
Manufacturing Discontent and
Resistance
Noam Chomsky
“How manufactured discontents is how you win an information war…” the resistance is the technological society on how education has changed culture from superstitions to science 🧬
Also how they knew-manufacturing discontents is how a culture of conspiracy is keeping it in controversy’s. I by far thought William cooper was more on the right side of the moderate center…. He segues and dissents fictions as 🗞️ news I see it’s an argument for a resistance movement yet far from no entertaining those alternatives too.

One day everyone would have been against an information war on manufacturing discontents. A saying everyone has the right to an opinion but no man is allowed to the wrong facts. Suggests it’s okay to have an opinion but some of these facts are fiction and for peddling words for this and that is. No man is allowed to…

I think it is…. Religious freedoms that are expressed not freedom of speech. That’s how collaborates group think 🤔 this and that is lucid to elucid…

In other words make believe entertaining make believe… so my review goes…

The thoughts after reading this book 📕 goes to my next book 📕

Listening to a book called surrounded by idiots and who is the idiot if he’s surrounds himself with idiots
Interesting book
I heard bus drivers settled with them selfs that they have a high tolerance for chaos
It’d either be policing or a bus drivers
Neither could I
I generally don’t like kids
Avoid them mostly
Give them plenty of space, head injuries make a person realize being an adulting gets worse than being responsibility for something that gets decided from parents but to the public
That gets measure by society by post secondary in society
And I think post secondary has completely obsoleted it self as a society
By contrast to society is measuring post secondary ‎
We’re not measuring education but intelligence now a days
… 💬 that’s my rant for the morning lol
I was to distracted in my youth into my 20’s from head injuries 🤕 spinal injuries

Enough to know youth make the great divorce…..look
by c.s. Lewis as clockwork orange 🍊 sound like the light does not come to let the adults go out but soulfully solidarity with out community.

It was originally story was called the boys who don’t go home 🏡 ‎
Talks of war and the youth en scripted to wage war on the old who don’t want always want war but just want to live

Getting older is seeing that the object poverty the youth get paid for killing in war is….

Oligarchy to Dixiecrat and antebellum
Lots of Dixiecrats would die just to lose rather than fight with the antebellums
Hard to say who got the weapons and antebellums way had more officials. And more organized but Dixiecrats were ostracized into war to lose
Antebellums had better weapons…. It sounds like in history
The North could be swayed with more people but the story to myth goes what is trumped is out of ordinary to opinion to origin
Winners write history I’d way rather of hears the stats then the numbers
The word "antebellum" comes from Latin, where "ante" means "before" and "bellum" means "war." Thus, "antebellum" literally translates to "before the war." It is commonly used to refer to the period in the United States prior to the Civil War (1861–1865), often describing the societal, economic, and cultural conditions of the South before the conflict.

The ogilarchy in the south the officials the who’s who and who control the population
If you break down that the society is measure by post secondary and that’s how society measure it self
Education
Not intelligence ‎
Fait accompli money 💰 debt and ownership is only so long for democracy and demagoguery and sophistry to repeat itself
They say one step forward is two steps back
Ai will make slavery profitable again
Just hold the cotton weaver, prolong slavery for a long time
Or it wouldn’t of been profitable
Scary thoughts
💭 40%-50% of jobs are paying below the poverty line**** the working poor with no benefits and it could easily climb to 80% of jobs paying below the poverty line in the next two decades or decade…

That’s what is edging on my mind at least
That people don’t see that heavens gate of fanaticism language Germany thought they were free too
Or the oil monopoly that got broke up with trust laws due to the aid for the antebellum’s…. Like It’s said they had all the resources and money 💰 and weapons.
I’m hoping for the future for sure
I don’t think many see the authoritarianism that’s masquerading powerful crazy knaves in society….

Taking it from some one like me who’s crazy I don’t agree with the agenda and it going its way
But I’m also paranoid so….
So maybe I’m not seeing it….
Such is life, hysterical or pareidolia to apophenia
Some times I
Make it all
Up
In context from the textual

To textual never tracking time to context having it all
On another note my friend I’m texting to is…
My friend just found a US nickel on the ground…

It sounds like you've been reflecting deeply on a variety of complex topics—society, education, history, power dynamics, and the nature of authority and chaos. Your thoughts touch on how societal measures like post-secondary education may no longer equate to true intelligence, how history often gets rewritten by the winners, and how fears of authoritarianism and inequality persist.

Your mention of books like "Surrounded by Idiots" and "The Great Divorce" shows you're exploring human behavior and societal structure from multiple angles. The connection between youth, war, societal control, and historical parallels like the antebellum South indicates a keen interest in understanding how power and culture shape our world.

And on a lighter note, finding a nickel on the ground… sometimes small moments like that can remind us to stay grounded amidst these large concepts.

[Nick Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Great summary and analysis of how tribalism and partisanship is destroying co-operative politics.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

How America Works and Why It Doesn’t blends historical context with modern-day politics in a way that's both engaging and easy to digest. The writing is clear and concise, making it an enjoyable read from start to finish. What truly stands out is its apolitical stance; it sticks to facts and provides a refreshing break from opinion-laden discussions. Definitely a recommended read for all.

[Wick Welker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Pretty typical political nonfiction fare that endorses American exceptionalism while also recognizing its flaws. The author chalks up America's current flaws to social media, political criminalization and tribalism. It's not a bad book and I largely agree with everything the author said. However, he tries to "both sides" the argument too much putting undue emphasis on the problems with liberal "censorship" and putting it on par with the deep troubles with MAGA conservatism. I'm sorry but professors at a university getting fired for saying something off color is not even in the same ballpark as a violent mob descending on the capitol to stop the election certification of Trump's successor. It's dumb and insulting to talk about these partisan problems like they have the same magnitude. The problems are NOT symmetrical and the author supports a narrative that they are. I do, however, think his assessment of Trump and his ilk is very spot on: their intent is to destroy the entire election process and upend the political and government order.

I learned nothing new and this was only a potent reminder to me to stop reading books like this because they are a waste of time for me. If you are a non-US citizen, this is a fairly good introductory book to current US politics but it definitely shouldn't be the only book you read on the topic.

[John Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

How America Works...And Why It Doesn't, by William Cooper
Always referenced, seldom read. Our Constitution is our hallmark as a nation. We revere it in theory, but are quick to try to run around it in practice. Columnist for major publications, attorney William Cooper reviews, in careful, clearly explained detail, how our country works. We see how the balance of powers, our Bill of Rights, and the rule of law intertwine.Then, equally as surgically, he explains how in terms of our very Constitution we the people can make it cease to function.
Cooper first offers a concise, often surprising summary of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is not hagiography. He demonstrates how, when instituted, we enshrined slavery, circumscribed the rights of women, and installed gun protections. Nevertheless, we learn how seventeenth century enlightenment ideas were enshrined in the basic Rights of Man, added to our Constitution. We find that by diversifying power among three branches of government, executive, congressional and judicial, we made a giant counterweight to royal powers of that era. No single man could rule others, so long as our constitution forbade it through a series of laws which codified a balance of powers. This notion is endangered when our balance ceases to function properly, with one branch powering over the others.
We discover our Constitution starts to fail when latter day advocates try to subvert the Constitution's limitations on government, or dilute the Bill of Rights. Remarkably nonpartisan, Cooper is nothing if not coherent in showing how both sides of our two party system function to their own benefit. To take one example, he notes how coherency and predictability are what are lacking in our immigration laws. Why this is so illustrates a major threat to our democracy. If we can't agree through governance, then how can we resolve this tenacious problem. Tribalism, or radical partisanship, was displayed to our nation's detriment in too many ways. Advocacy first sought to keep slavery, then created Jim Crow, and now has mass incarceration (primarily of black men) to preclude what were founding principles of equality before the law. Cooper notes, in line with our early intentions, we should treat each person equally, and value all lives as much as American citizens' lives. Those who would undermine these notions have long been with us. Women were denied the right to vote until the 19th Amendment as one example. Cooper laments how hard it is to change the Constitution, echoed by a Supreme Court Justice who marveled that while it should be hard, it should not be so hard.
These examples are but few of many excellent examples Cooper cites of how various issues, freedom of speech, gun rights, the right to privacy, and a host of others are dealt with by our way of government, either successfully, or not. Cooper is to be lauded for his masterful citing of critical issues before us today, outside the clarion calls of advocacy, and within the realm of his quiet, thoughtful, reflection.

[MM Suarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In sum, the two-party system creates a bitter rivalry between two mega-tribes; closed primaries sharpen the divide; gerrymandering disenfranchises millions of Americans; the Electoral College renders the votes of tens of millions more irrelevant; and the highest court in the land consistently defines the Constitution in strident opposition to the people’s majority preferences.”

At least for me that about sums it up, in that paragraph, the author in my opinion has captured the root of the problem. Whether you agree with him or not, and for the most part I do, (not always), I certainly appreciate the neutral, civil tone of this book, in my experience that is not the case with most books written about politics and government these days.

This book provides a brief but concise overview of how our government was set up, how it is supposed to work, and why it is not working right now. As the author eloquently states, “A nation is, indeed, little more than the hearts and minds of its people. And a big part of why America isn’t working is because Americans have stopped caring about how it’s supposed to work.”

Given the surveys that show how little Americans know about basic civics, this book is a good addition to anyones library. A fast, interesting read, I recommend it to anyone interested in government and politics.

My thanks to the author for providing a free copy of this book.

[Robert Jeens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A contrarian view. Maybe America is working, mostly. The economy grew 2.5% in 2023, the highest in the G7. Average GDP per capita was $73,000, again the highest in the G7. The world’s biggest companies - Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, Alphabet, and Amazon – are all American companies. Americans are rich.
Oh, sorry, I was writing about the economy. Cooper is writing about politics. I have to agree with him that the American political system is not working as well as it is supposed to. Gridlock, Supreme Court decisions far outside of popular opinion, massive inequality, and roaring partisanship. And most Americans agree with him. Cooper provides the statistics to support this claim in his book, so I will let you read them there.
Before I get further into that, I would like to say how much of a joy it was to read a conscientious writer. Cooper deliberately makes his arguments accessible, educating as well as persuading. The sentences are as simple as they need to be, but no simpler. The paragraphs flow together nicely. He is logical and gives good examples. Middle-of-the-road, informed long-form essays are good – tweets based on negative emotion are bad.
In diagnosing America’s strengths and weaknesses, Cooper takes a balanced approach, criticizing both Democrats and Republicans. He criticizes “Defund the Police” and the narrative that Democrats concocted that Trump was in league with the Russians to influence the 2016 election. On the other hand, he sees Trump and a very large segment of his supporters in the Republican Party as the major problem in American politics because they have proven themselves to be willing to burn down the democratic system of governance in pursuit of power. He dishes out a lot more on both sides. I can see that he and I have a lot of the same political opinions, which is good, because of course we are right.
The book is set up into two parts: the first part is titled “How America Works”, in which he writes about the Constitution, how it was made, its strengths and weaknesses. The second part, entitled “And Why It Doesn’t” explains what he sees as the chief threats in the present: political tribalism, social media, and the flaws in the American political system. These three causes have had the effect of making the American people almost ungovernable, living in echo chambers reflecting their own views with their own sets of facts, and hating the other side more and more and more and more.
I like the way he has set the book up: he understands the American political system better than most and better than me. He quotes authors I like such as Steven Pinker, Daniel Kahneman and Jonathan Haidt. Some of his ideas really resonate with me. Focus on process, not results. You say what you want to do, I say what I want to do, and then everybody else gets to vote on what we will do. We need to explain America in a historical context. Kings and empires and tyrants have been the rule for most of history, most of the time for most people. The democratic republic, however, has generally been a force for progress both domestically and in the world. We need to recognize how far America has come but also that it needs to do more to live up to its ideals. We can think about utopia, but we need to be very careful about implementing unproven ideas divorced from reality. Social media needs to be reformed so that political division and misinformation are not paths to monetization and riches. There is a lot more.
I am an outsider. I am a Canadian and I have been living in South Korea for a long time. I have to admit that I am afraid to do anything but transfer airplanes in the USA because of all the crazy people with guns. But I admire the American experiment. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up safely, close to the border of a great nation. I like many of the Americans I have met: open-minded, friendly, and engaged. Americans did not just take a very rich hunk of the world’s real estate, but improved it in the most remarkable ways, economically, socially and politically. The rest of the world, and I, personally, have a stake in what happens to America. Compared to China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, Americans are the good guys. No, America is not perfect and cannot be the world’s policeman alone. Other countries have to contribute to the defense of freedom. But if the American experiment in democracy fails, it will affect everybody. Not only will it embolden the prospective despots in our own countries, but also nobody else can lead the alliance. So, I say to my American friends, you have the right to decide what happens in your country, not me. But I have a stake in your decision.
And a message of hope. Cooper puts a lot of blame on social media for the exacerbating divisions in America, and I agree with him. But, as Hans Rosling used to say, I am a possibilist. It is possible that things will get better. We can draw a technological analogy with the development of automobiles, arguably a very good thing for mobility and freedom for the vast majority, but the side effects have been pernicious. It has taken one hundred years for a whole regulation industry to reign in their disadvantages: better roads, speed limits, seat belts, driver’s licenses, etc., and now we are moving to electric cars. Similarly, the pernicious effects of social media are side effects, not the intended effects of allowing people to communicate better with each other. America – and the world – need to regulate the destructive effects of social media better. It will not be easy, but it is possible.
Here is why I like Cooper’s middle of the road. Johnathan Israel wrote a great book called “Democratic Enlightenment.” In it, he outlined three main schools of seventeenth and eighteenth century European thought. The first was the call for government based on reason only, an end to slaves, aristocrats and monarchs. For democracy, equality and liberty. The second was a defense of monarchy, religion and order. “Natural” hierarchies and obedience to tradition. The third was a combination of the two. As Israel pointed out, the first and second were intellectually more consistent positions, but the third worked better. The first sounded great, and inspired the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It was what most thinking people advocate now. The second, in the 21st century, might be what someone like Putin supports. Fareed Zakaria pointed out that the third is what actually succeeded in places like England, the Netherlands and the USA after 1787. When the first was tried in its pure form, in a France not ready for it, it ultimately led to Robespierre and the Terror. I agree with Cooper that the American Constitution of 1787 is in need of reform. Unlike the modern Jacobins, we cannot forget, though, tradition is important or demonize the past or present because it defies our own version of a modern utopia. We need to also be wary of people, though, who yearn for a return of an idealized yesterday to support their own despotic ambitions.
Thanks for your long-form thoughts, William Cooper. We need more like them.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on the good and the bad of how America- especially politically- works. The author postulates that Americans really don't have a good grasp of how the country and the system are supposed to operate. In my opinion, he's correct. The book presents how things "should" be run and how modern life fuzzes that idea.

Politics today forces Americans to pick a side: right or left... instead of picking what's good for America. He calls it Tribalism--- but partisanship is just as good a word. Basing your whole political view on what you "party" says is wrong. You can want a smaller government and allow abortion, but partisanship- or tribalism- says you can only have one and not the other.

Overall this is a thought provoking and very timely book on the American system, bringing into focus the good, the bad and the uncertainties that life in the 21st century pressure the way the country is run.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I was a child, I have had trouble with history and politics for a few reasons. For one, the way history was taught to me was traditional, limited, and boring. For another, it seemed that politics tended to be polarizing, although not nearly as bad as it is now, and I was never sure who I could trust. And even if I trusted a politician, it didn't mean that they would be good at the job. Jimmy Carter comes to mind. Thankfully, he has done a ton of good since he left the presidency!

But back to this book. This is sort of a cliff notes primer about the US Political System and while it focuses a lot on more recent events and how we got to where we are today, he goes back into the history of the beginnings of our country and how the constitution with the amendments came to be. He does his best to be nonpartisan and points out times when both the Democrats and the Republicans did things that were not really for the best interests of our country, but rather for the gain of their party. For example, even though he is clear about the danger that Trump poses for our country, he also discusses the Democrats falsely accusing him of Russian collusion to help him win the election without the appropriate proof, and in the long run, that does not really help. Another example involves his argument about cancel culture, which I didn't entirely agree with.

By the end, I had the sense that the author was more left leaning, which is fine with me, but I think in an effort to remain nonpartisan, there were some things (like the cancel culture) that he pulled in that didn't feel very convincing to me. The previous example about the Democrats charging him without sufficient proof carried more weight for me, and some of the other examples he gave of how the Democrats did not help themselves by doing such and such made sense to me. Still, it was apparent to me that while he tried to keep the book nonpartisan, he definitely leans left, and perhaps he should have just stated that at the beginning. One can lean one way and still point out the shortcomings of one's own party.

I very much appreciated the history lessons he included about our political system because much of that I either didn't remember or was never taught. I liked how he connected certain decisions made decades ago to the current situation we find ourselves in, although obviously it has never been just one thing. I also am fully convinced that we need to find an alternative to the Electoral College although I have no idea how that would work. I would be interested in the author's thoughts about what he thinks would have to happen in order for such a thing to happen. I just recently listened to Congressman Jamie Raskin speak about the need to eliminate the Electoral college, but once again, I don't actually know what needs to happen to do such a thing (other than convince everyone in Congress that it has to happen?).

In terms of the narration, I thought Jeff Harding did a solid job with the narration. I'm not familiar with his work, but his voice worked very well for this book.

Overall, I thought this was a clearly written, succinct account of our political system that I found very helpful in giving me perspective and better understanding. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand our political system without getting bogged down in the weeds. It really is aptly subtitled, "A Brief Guide to the US Political System."

[LaShanda Chamberlain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between Election Day 2020 and January 6, 2021, I was shocked by how many Americans didn’t understand how our government works. Conspiracy theories about overturning Trump’s election loss were rampant, revealing a significant gap in basic political knowledge. This surprised me, especially given the solid foundation I received from my high school government teacher, Jack Perry.

Fortunately, William Cooper’s *How America Works… and Why it Doesn’t* clarifies these issues. He explains how each branch of government operates and emphasizes the media's role in shaping public understanding. Cooper identifies three main causes of our political problems: tribalism, social media, and the two-party system. His blend of history, analysis, and practical solutions makes this book essential for anyone concerned about our democracy's future.

Cooper presents his ideas clearly and without bias, making them accessible to all readers. This book is not only informative but also a valuable resource for navigating today’s political landscape.

I highly recommend it to anyone eager to understand these important issues better. It encourages engagement with key concepts that impact our society, whether you’re new to politics or looking to expand your knowledge. Cooper’s insights will resonate with you and spark meaningful conversations.

[Rajiv Chopra · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Cooper's book, "How America Works and Why It Doesn't," is excellent and provides superb foundational knowledge for anyone unfamiliar with the country. I often watch the antics of American politicians with bemusement, dismay, and disgust, and my earlier admiration is disappearing fast. America has an outsized influence on the world, and many people risk loving or detesting the country without understanding anything about the nation.
You can and must read alternative histories of the USA. Still, none covers the country's political foundations: the Constitution, the amendments, the executive, the judiciary, the founding principles, and their strengths and weaknesses.
William Cooper divided the book into two parts: how America works in Part One and why it is not working in Part Two. He covered the founding principles of the Constitution, the crucial amendments, the structure of the government, etc., in the first part. The Constitution has weaknesses, no doubt – no Constitution is perfect – but there are some very sound founding principles that modern Americans must take the trouble to learn. These founding principles are essential for any foreigner wishing to understand the country.
I give William Cooper full credit for taking the essence of this complex topic and presenting the material concisely, easy to read, and understandable. He resisted the temptation to present us with all manner of minutiae, which would have clouded the topic. In making this excellent choice, he has made the reader's task easy.
He covered the problems America is facing in the second part of the book: social media, extreme tribalism, the two-party structure, and political manipulation in the second section. Again, I give him full credit for adopting a balanced approach. Except for Donald Trump, for whom he does not have a kind word, he analyzes the Republicans and Democrats in a balanced manner.
I don't know why he did not cover aspects of American foreign policy, but I hope he does so in a future book.
If you expect a diatribe or a rant when you pick up the book, do not read it. On the other hand, if you desire to come back with a better understanding of the USA, its strengths, and current problems, then, by all means, read the book: the material will reward you well.
William Cooper could well be writing about your country. There were moments when I thought he was describing why India does not work!

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great primer everyone should read. I’m even reading it again. Terrific book!

[Kevin Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the author's general vantage point, this is the sort of book I would not generally expect, a priori, to like. As a socialist and anarchist, I take issue with Cooper's centrist views in almost too many ways to count. My views on US history and foreign policy were probably influenced, more than anything else, by my reading of Noam Chomsky, Gabriel Kolko, and other leftist writers starting 25 years ago. My views on the Constitution and the class coalition behind it are heavily influenced by Merrill Jensen and Charles Beard.
And yet.
And yet, almost as much as I take issue with centrists, I take issue with the sort of leftists for whom "liberal" is the worst swear word in their vocabulary. Control of power, regardless of in whose name it's exercised, by uniformly applied procedural rules and due process
Marx on fulfillment of stated principles of liberal capitalism
The ideal context in which I would apply such procedural rules, and checks and balances, is far different from that currently prevailing in the United States. It would be one in which virtually all decisions affecting people's daily lives would be in local direct democratic assemblies administering neighborhood sewer systems and power grids, self-managed workplaces, public utilities organized as stakeholder cooperatives, community land trusts, natural resource commons, and standing federative bodies administering larger-scale networks like rail systems and long-distance power and fiber-optic grids (the latter being purely administrative platforms, in the tradition of "administering things rather than legislating for human beings" running from Saint-Simon to Engels). But due process rules and institutional structures for balancing power -- presumably as a body of common law precedent emerging from the interactions between such polyarchic institutions -- are just as necessary in such a libertarian socialist society as in any other.
My strongest point of objection -- and it's a strong one -- is the excessive credence Cooper gives to the "cancel culture" narrative, and particularly to the legitimacy of figures like Bari Weiss and James Damore who promote the narrative. Damore, in my opinion, is a grifter who already had the "Goolag" t-shirts on order and was negotiating the first interviews in his "cancelled by the woke mob" tour, before he even clicked "send" on the menu.
Almost as strong is my objection to his defense of capitalism -- a system I see, like feudalism, as one with both a beginning and an end. In this regard I take issue with his equation of "capitalism" to market exchange; if all the negative externalities, subsidies, and sources of unearned economic rent from artificial scarcity or artificial property rights were removed from capitalism, it would no longer be capitalism -- it would be a system of non-capitalist markets.
And I would either agree with, or challenge Cooper's characterization of, virtually all the positions of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party listed in this quote:
"The wing’s positions in areas like free speech (cancel dissent), law enforcement (defund the police), national defense (a trivial concern), and federal spending (deficits don’t matter) — to name a few — are unmoored from empirical reality."
By the way: police abolitionists are hardly typical of people using the "defund the police" slogan; it was overwhelmingly associated with calls to scale back on broken windows policing, use trained social workers or EMTs for welfare checks instead of armed police, etc., and reduce police budgets accordingly. And this is against a background where, for years, police budgets have grown steadily more bloated and cutting them has been a third rail of local politics.
The following -- essentially the position mocked in the Matt Bors cartoon as "And yet you participate in society!" -- is especially egregious:
"Echoing detractors of American government, critics of American capitalism often thoroughly enjoy the fruits of the system while bashing its flaws. They write scathing critiques on their sophisticated laptops, in books published by large conglomerates, while sipping fancy Starbucks lattes, pausing to tweet to a globally integrated audience from their hand-held supercomputers, all while draped in chic clothing made by huge corporations leveraging global supply chains."
Of course, the goods consumed by people living under any system will be the result of that system's institutional arrangements for production and distribution. And any system entails a power structure that selects for some forms of organization and suppresses others. How could it be any other way? By Cooper's standard, anyone who criticized Soviet communism while using goods produced in state-owned factories would be a hypocrite.
But such caveats aside, the destabilizing forces Cooper describes -- cognitive biases, party politics, social media, etc. -- are things any society must be capable of dealing with, and deserve careful consideration. There are reasons to believe an anarchist society, or a heavily decentralized libertarian socialist one, would be considerably more resilient to the destabilizing forces.
"Our brain has evolved over millions of years to process information primarily about local matters that affect us directly. Humans communicated face to face with fellow members of their tribe.... The brain was wired to grapple with phenomena that could be felt with the hands and seen with the eyes. Then... within a few hundred years, humans went from communicating primitively to reading the printing press’s early texts, to listening to the radio and watching television, to surfing the web’s early sites, to the present day, when millions practically inhale social-media feeds of information from all over the world, manipulated by algorithms."
In a decentralized, self-managed society, with economic and other functions relocalized wherever technically feasible, most decisions would be made in bodies whose members were dealing with things they directly experienced and acting based on their own distributed knowledge -- "phenomena that could be felt with the hands and seen with the eyes." Most decisions would involve things of direct practical concern, and be decided on the basis of technical considerations. The few bodies that operated on a regional or national scale -- as already noted, mostly maintaining and operating infrastructures like railways and fiber optic networks -- would be almost entirely administrative. Any national arena in which room existed to form polarized political identities based on abstract ideology or emotive symbols would be either multiple orders of magnitude smaller or nonexistent.
Further, the political or ideological content of most decisions could be minimized through predistribution -- i.e. building the socialist or redistributive goals of the society into the initial design of property rules and institutional structures -- so that no ongoing policy process is required to achieve egalitarian outcomes. This might take the form, e.g., of vesting control of all land and resources in self-managed land trusts and Ostromite natural resource commons, making all productive enterprises automatically worker-owned and self-managed, organizing public services and utilities as stakeholder cooperatives, making all information free and open-source, and making capital allocation a function of the credit arms of federations of worker cooperatives.
At any rate, despite my criticisms above -- some of them quite strong -- I recommend this book to those on the left who grapple with the structure of a future post-capitalist society.

[corrina ishii ୧‧₊˚⋅ · Rating 4 out of 5]

where do I start! highly anticipated read for me, heard great things about this book. do not mind my 200+ highlights and notes, you can use that as a summary for the book if you do not want to read the whole thing haha.

so I gave this book a 4 out of 5, let me tell you why:

I thoroughly enjoyed about 80% of this book until the rapid decline towards the ending of the second half of the book. (It is split in to 2 segments: How America Works & ..Why It Doesnt)

Let me tell you some things that were great. William did a great job for the first half of the book starting with the history of America and some of our deep routed issues that have been trickled down in to present day, for example starting with systemic racism and slavery.
The foundation of how you build anything will always affect the overall quality of something, and being able to identify the issue is the first step towards progressively fixing it. This is really important in my opinion to immediately identify since a lot of people today scream the same rhetoric of how long ago that was and how it has no effect on issues currently, which people need to be way more informed on and William did wonderful correlating the past to present issues. He also lists our amendments which I learned in this book statistically that only a small percentage of people can tell you what they are. This is important because it emphasizes a lack in education, specifically civil, that the average person needs to have. When it comes to format I think he did an amazing job explaining the book from past to present, keeping the timeline and information parallel for a seamless read. Not only did he give an in depth lesson on our history he was very informative on statistics, core values of our nation, how we should be upholding them, and reminding readers of our essential traditions as a country, which I think a lot of us have lost in translation what a democracy stands for and acts like. He is extremely transparent about policy failures and the dysfunction in our federal structure which I also appreciate.

But this is where (and only where..) it became excruciating to finish..

After explaining in detail all the different biases in politics (e.g. confirmation bias, tribal bias, cognitive bias, etc) and continuously citing from Pew Research a nonpartisan think tank; for some reason when we get to the "And Why America Doesn't Work" (2nd half of the book) he goes full blown Donald Trump hating liberal on us. Instead of dedicating the rest of the book to demonizing Trump and mentioning everything he has ever said or did wrong it would have been way more conducive to continue highlighting the pros and cons of our history and the WHY'S. Hence the segment title..."And Why It Doesn't"..

Implying Trump is what is wrong with America right now is absolutely false. Trump in office is the product of the failures, lies and chaos that has been brewing in America for a long time under the radar. This was disappointing because the author does recognize a lot of the real main issues we have as Americans (Tribalism, Social Media, Civil Dysfunction, Lack of Education), but it felt like he couldn't hold back from letting everyone know his disdain for Trump as a person let alone as president. I'm not here to say whether he is good or bad, I just wish William stayed on the topic of informing WHY we are in the position we are in today. Cause AND effect, not just effect.

All in all, this book was great and I will recommend people to definitely add to their shelves. The first half "How America Works" was written close to perfect in my opinion and a must read. If you go through my highlights I left a bunch of remarks/notes if you would like to check them out even though they are more like 2am commentary responding to things I dont agree with hahaha. Good luck and Thanks William!

[Rosemary Standeven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a very interesting and useful book. I have been following US politics for a while now, and this clarified a number of areas for me.
The book is divided into two. The first half covers how the USA was intended to work, going back to the intentions of the founding fathers, the constitution and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court – all things that every American should know. For me, as a foreigner, though, it was very handy to have it all gone through.
The second half discusses why the country doesn’t work:

“a main reason why America isn’t working is because far too many Americans don’t know how it’s supposed to work”

Perhaps they should read part 1!
Another significant reason the author highlights, is the bipartisan politics in the country. With only two major parties, the electorate is ever more sharply divided into two opposing camps. Voters support their side regardless. Anything the other side says, is always wrong. There is seldom compromise. The rifts between the parties are accentuated by social media, and the spread of lies and partial truths. The desire to win at all costs, results in short-termism, so major problems are seldom dealt with. The book is very balanced. Both Democrats and Republicans are brought to task. Also, due to the electoral college system, one person does not equal one vote. States with small populations can have a disproportionate influence on the outcome of an election.
As an outsider, it often seems miraculous that USA functions at all with the politicisation of the Judiciary, the interminable electioneering, the incredible amounts of money raised and spent by presidential nominees, the violence, the gun lobby, the freezing of congress every time a budget needs to be passed. But also, the abject fear of ‘communism’ – so no universal health care, nor any effective safety net for the underprivileged, and a substandard public education system – things that in most European countries (and many, many others) are high quality and expected.
The whole world is awaiting the outcome of the next presidential election. It affects everyone – not just Americans. However, we don’t get to vote – so the world must rely on Americans to think carefully and sensibly about their options, AND VOTE.
I would recommend this book to both Americans and outsiders. It is very well written and argued, and everyone will learn something from it.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fair and balanced; informative. I read this via Whispersync and I did not care for the narration, which included some pretty glaring mispronunciations (e.g. pronouncing W.E.B. du Bois as “du BWAH” rather than “du BOYZ”). But the book itself is good, so I recommend the kindle/print version over the audiobook for this one.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word of the day is: Turbocharged. In context: Well, it's nothing to do with cars, you fucking imbecile. In fact, it basically means something that increases exponentially, something the writer is not really a fan of ...

The writer, William Cooper, was kind enough to send me a free PDF copy of this book. Indeed, I felt no hesitation in accepting the offer - given both my interest and ignorance in the subject - and only afterwards, upon perusing the scant negative reviews, did I start to worry that I might not enjoy it that much after all. At least, whatever merits it had, I thought it might annoy me - as it seemed to certain others who were forthcoming, if not quite elegant, in their thoughts about him and his “evil” ways. (Interestingly, these aren’t people who apparently read the book - from whom there were some very valid points made in critique - but rather those who felt the need to jump straight into his ask-the-author (or whatever the hell it’s called) section.

Unsurprisingly, these less than impressed critics were conservatives, taking umbrage with what is clearly and unapologetically a left-wing, pro-Democrat, anti-Trump-based diagnosis upon a country that has, for myriad reasons, gone right to shit.

But I think Cooper does take a commendably balanced approach to dissecting the nation and its domestic troubles. There is nothing good to say about Trump, or most of the other well-known Republicans. The former president is indeed the clear and present danger to all that America holds dear, charged with all the worst abuses of power - some of which, ironically, are being enacted upon him right now, in a bizarre, frustrating and hypocritical attempt to prevent certain wrongs by committing them first, recklessly setting a very destructive precedent.

This, however, would be a silly place to try and justify my own more positive feelings towards Trump. Allow me to close the digression by simply saying that, despite having personally moved more leftwards in my own political beliefs and values, I have very much returned to hoping Trump will win the next election, even if just to see that all the dirty games employed to stop him these past few years are met with a nice, big, embarrassing failure. I am very much one of the types Cooper talks about in the book and more or less laments: someone who does not even really like their fellow partisans - there are very few Republicans I actually like - but merely hates the other side more. Thank God I am an Australian, where every aspect of our lives is not overly politicised, and all the people insane with fear and anger as a result. Oh, we have them, don’t worry. But they are a rarer breed, not mainstream figures commanding any level of real respect from the populace.

With America being now in the destabilising quagmire that is, with tribalism, cultural warfare, and zero-sum games of short-term, reactionary politics ruling the day, an honest and rational, mostly non-partisan book like this is just what we need. This goes both for Americans themselves - perhaps especially younger ones whose idealistic activism often surpasses common sense - who could do with a reminder of what the “American experiment” is all about, how it came to be, what this means, and why it is important and not to be discarded lightly. For those like me, who know very little of the real inner workings of the government and only get to see the outward manifestations as they filter through whatever biased media of their choice, this is a very helpful book which gets straight to the point and does not hit you too hard over the head with the author’s own convictions.

Informative, entertaining, and extremely relevant. And a corrective to all the lies, myths and nonsense spouted from either end of the two political tribes now at war with one another.

[Rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book because of its extreme bias. For a book that is supposed to highlight the importance of The Constitution, it does not deliver, and it’s not worth my time to finish. It was published in July 2024 at the end of Biden’s presidency. Therefore, the author has had ample time to consider the effects of Biden’s presidency.

The author is decidedly anti-Trump and has plenty to say about his presidency four years ago. He is certainly entitled to his opinion of Trump, but he does not criticize Biden at all. If his intent is to argue his opinion about the federal government’s lack of adherence to The Constitution, then why doesn’t he criticize Biden? Biden has done much that is unconstitutional and lied repeatedly, yet he is praised for role as president.

For example, the author explains why the federal government needed to overrule state decisions concerning Jim Crow laws. And it was right and necessary for the federal government to do so. However, he does not think immigration at the southern border should receive the same scrutiny. He asserts that laws about immigration belong to the states, despite how illegal aliens affect the entire country, including the laws of the federal government.

I’m not convinced that he has a proper understanding of the issues surrounding the writing of The Constitution. Should a prohibition of slavery been included in The Constitution? Certainly, slavery is evil, but the southern states would not have ratified The Constitution if slavery had been abolished, making life much more difficult for slaves since slave-holding states would not have become part of The United States of America. The issue was much more complicated in the seventeenth century. Our founding fathers, put the decision to a future generation with the hope that Americans would become more enlightened about the evils of slavery.

He also does not understand the purpose of the 3/5 clause in The Constitution. No one should be considered or treated as less than others. However, if each slave had been counted as a full citizen, then the increased population would have given the Southern states more representation and thus more power in the senate. Our founding fathers were trying to prevent slave-holding states from more influence in the federal government. There are historical issues that must be considered.

According to him, Americans should never have been given the right to own guns. Does he not realize the need for colonists who became citizens of America to own guns? Has he not considered the statistics concerning modern gun rights? Where there are more gun laws, there is more violence. Chicago is a prime example.

I do not recommend this book to anyone who would like to consider how much the lack of America’s adherence to The Constitution affects modern society. There are books with much better arguments.

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cooper's new book “How America Works... and Why it Doesn't” offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the maladies afflicting the American political system. With a keen eye for historical context and a clear-headed analysis of contemporary challenges, Cooper provides a much-needed roadmap for understanding the nation's current predicament. Central to Cooper's argument is the notion that Americans have become increasingly detached from the fundamental principles upon which their nation was built. The rise of tribalism, fueled by the echo chambers of social media, has eroded the common ground necessary for effective governance. Cooper skillfully traces the evolution of political parties from platforms of principle to vehicles of identity, demonstrating how this shift has exacerbated polarization and gridlock. While the book's brevity prevents an in-depth examination of specific policy issues, it effectively highlights the systemic problems hindering progress. Cooper's focus on the corrosive impact of social media and the erosion of trust in institutions is particularly insightful. He convincingly argues that these factors have created a toxic environment in which misinformation thrives and compromise is seen as weakness. Ultimately, “How America Works” serves as a wake-up call. Cooper's sober assessment of the nation's challenges is a stark reminder of the work that needs to be done to restore faith in democracy. While the book offers few concrete solutions, it provides a valuable framework for understanding the problem. By identifying the root causes of America's political dysfunction, Cooper empowers readers to engage in informed and constructive dialogue about the future of the nation.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a non American, this is a great introduction to the US political system and Cooper's writing is clear and infused with an understanding of his potentially international audience. He explains the basics and background simply, without ever sounding patronising or condescending.

This book focuses on the two party system of government and, whilst acknowledging its flaws, looks at how it can be improved rather than simply tolerated.

Turning to modern politics, Cooper looks at Trump and the cult of personality as well as showing that Biden was a good (if not great) politician, foreshadowing the stepping aside of Biden in favour of VP Kamala Harris.

The book is supposed to make readers proud of democracy and does this well. It strives to make readers more active in their political experience and encourages them to learn how the system is supposed to work.

I enjoyed reading this book because there is a pervading sense that Cooper respects his readers and values their involvement with his text. It is a call for change and a return to good governance.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Within the character of the citizen, lies the welfare of the nation” (Cicero). Unfortunately, our national character isn’t up to snuff. The author outlines the three essential challenges facing the US in this century: tribalism, social media, and the two-party system (exacerbated by gerrymandering, closed primaries, and the electoral college). These challenges to a successful America are actually championed by some, and ignored by the many who simply choose not to care about what makes democracy work. The author does a good job of showing that not all is bad and not all is good in the country. There are great things about our constitution, but there are also embarrassments (e.g., slavery and the 3/5 rule that took a bloody civil war to change, when they needn’t have). There are advantages to capitalism, but disadvantages to the way America has chosen to turn a blind eye to capitalism’s poorly regulated practice of it. The danger lies in the way we fail to recognize and address our shortcomings. A lot of good stuff in a relatively short book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a conversation piece to get the discussion started; therefore, I say it's a good book for beginners, but United States politics is far more complicated than can be contained in 200 pages. There are many interesting things in this book, and it could be very enlightening. The author writes well and is knowledgeable, and he is easy to understand; thus, it's frustrating to me that many people might interpret this as the definitive text about United States government. Our constitution has been written knowing that our existence is balances on entropy, so it makes room for changes and adjustments. This is why we do not allow lifelong dictators, who resist change, to govern us, nor do we allow monopolies, who resist change, to dominate industry. If you're truly a United States citizen, you understand only fools trust in the illusion of a comfort zone. The world profits from our secured instability.

[Caleb Lagerwey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This eminently readable book was a great introduction to the US' constitutional and political system, and I appreciated its artful blending of history, political science, journalism, and commentary. While there were a few choices of issues and somewhat false equivalences in it--I have strong reservations about comparing conservative belief in QAnon Pizzagate with alleged liberal belief in "Bush did 9-11"--I appreciated the author's attempt to be balanced while still calling the Trumpian spade a spade: he rightly calls out issues on both sides of the aisle while not soft-pedaling the peerless threat to the US that MAGA represents. It's a great introduction to politics that serves as a powerful call to reform US society and politics.

[Jenna Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for gifting this read to me, William Cooper! Well done. I think it’s far too common, if not the general average that we as a society forget or turn a blind eye to knowing exactly what, more than whom, they’re voting for. This explains the WHY behind our country’s issues and setbacks, and these things are crucial for all of us to know.

With taking the bias out of political preference, this gave a glimpse of what went wrong, where and when. Very educational and informative. Great read! 👏🏻👏🏻

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author sent me this book in exchange for a review. I'm not sure he's going to like it.

From the beginning, when the author whines about the second amendment, in a completely ahistorical way that echoes Michael Bellesiles's fraudulent work in the book Arming America, you know how this is going to go.

A few pages later, it becomes clear: Orange Man Bad.

If that's what you want, give it a go.