CBA Record January-February 2023

turned out.) On this topic, Geoghegan writes: “Yes, I am in favor of compulsory voting as the only way to settle once and for all whether we are all in this together. With all our checks and balances of our gridlocked form of government, it’s only by all of us turning out in every major election that the republic can survive.” Geoghegan might be at his strongest and his ideas most likely to be accepted when he speaks of placing greater focus on labor and less on college, as many others agree that a college degree is not ideal or necessary for every high school graduate. He also speaks about the Democratic Party of old being neighborhood-based and relating to the working class. Although a Democrat, the author does not spare words for either his party or the GOP and writes negatively about the Democratic machine. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes is quoted as saying about the book, “This book made me laugh out loud and also gave me glimpses of an entire horizon of possibil ity I hadn’t seen before.” He is spot on about the laughter: Geoghegan is self deprecating, witty, punchy, and fun to read. In terms of the horizon of possibility, the outcome is not quite certain. For some time, Congress has been unworkable, and no major changes seem likely on this front. In fact, some have argued after the mid terms that those under 21 not be permitted to vote, so ideas such as the mandatory vote are not likely to find traction anytime soon. Nonetheless, we hope that Geoghegan is correct, and that the history of democ racy has yet to be written. Something must give. This thought-provoking book provides a fun way of looking at the pos sibilities, remote or not. Ethics and Employment LawWorkshop February 8, 2023 | 3:00-4:00 p.m. 1 IL PR-MCLE Credit LiveWebcast Only Register at Learn.ChicagoBar.org

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS

REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS!

I n January 2009, then-U.S. Congress man Rahm Emanuel resigned from his seat representing the Illinois Fifth District to move to the White House as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. A special election was announced, and Thomas Geoghegan, a political neophyte, decided to run. Geoghegan is president of the law firm Despsres, Schwartz and Geoghegan, Ltd., which focuses on labor, civil rights, and public interest litigation. His latest book, The History of Democ racy Has Yet to Be Written: HowWe Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again, uses that experience as a launching point to describe measures we might consider to improve our representative form of government. Geoghegan begins: “But this book is not about my cam paign. It’s about what I learned – at first during the campaign, and then later – about how we might end our country’s political divide.” Geoghegan writes about the need for courts to change, but that is stuff we have seen in many ways and in many writings. What is more interesting are some of his other thoughts on our government struc ture: for example, he suggests that we end the filibuster – hear! hear! – and abolish the Senate. Geoghegan suggests that everyone eligible be required to vote. Not as a discretionary matter, but mandatory, as he laments the 100 million who do not participate. (In that special election for Emanuel’s House seat, only 5,000 voters

The History of Democracy Has Yet to BeWritten: HowWe Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again By Thomas Geoghegan

Belt Publishing (2021) Reviewed by Daniel A. Cotter

Daniel A. Cotter is Attorney and Counsel at Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC, a member of the CBA Record Editorial Board, and Past President of the CBA.

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