J. Douglas Smith

I received a copy of this book through a giveaway on GoodReads and the following is my honest opinion.

In high school history had always been my best subject with about a 93 average, from the 10th to the 12th grade. The depth and breadth of the information author, J. Douglas Smith, has covered in his book is extraordinary when compared to what I’d been taught.

One would think given the democracy we reportedly live in; one person one, one vote has always been the way part of the democratic process. “On Democracy’s Doorstep” proves the contrary had actually existed prior to the Supreme Court decisions which corrected this situation.

The politics used by both parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, to maintain the levels of apportionment they’ve enjoyed for decades; as well as the gerrymandering of districts even within the same party to keep a particular individual in office would be deemed by those unfamiliar to the “Game of Politics” to be unbelievable.

To read about the details described by the author concerning the shenanigans pulled by both parties to keep their status quo is a real eye-opener to the uninitiated common citizen of the United States.

I’m therefore giving Mr. Smith my thanks and 5 STARS for opening the door and removing the “veil of secrecy” to the issue of “one person, one vote” for all those who read his book.… (meer)

5242. On Democracy's Doorstep The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought "One Person, One Vote" To the United States, by J. Douglas Smith (read 31 Jan 2015) (Book of the Year) This is a superb book which tells the full story of the apportionment cases, decided by the Supreme Court in the early 1960's. It tells of the lawyers who brought the cases, the arguments before the courts, and, best of all, much about the inner tensions of the Court. At the beginning few thought that both houses of the legislature needed to be based on people. States vigorously argued that other factors should be able to be considered but the logic of only people being entitled to representation prevailed and Chief Justice Warren, speaking for six justices, held that people are to be represented, not acres or trees. After June 15, 1964, Senator Dirksen tried to have the states call for a constitutional convention and almost succeeded in getting 34 states to do so. I had not realized how close he came to such a convention. Fortunately Senator Paul Douglas and other Senators fought Dirksen and after a few years all the state legislatures were in compliance with the one person-one vote principle. This book is extremely well researched and tells well an exciting story.… (meer)