Democracy Unbound: Progressive Challenges to the Two Party System

by David B. Reynolds

Something exciting is happening in U.S. politics, though you probably have not seen it discussed on the nightly news. Democracy Unbound tells the inspiring story of how progressives across the country are building grassroots alternatives to Republican and Democratic party politics. The first half of 1996 alone saw hundreds of independent and progressive activists elected to local school boards, planning commissions, city councils, and county boards -- as well as an independent socialist re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. These activists are rebuilding the democratic ideal in which grassroots organizing drives party policies, candidates stand for substance, and citizens directly shape politics for the common good.

Looking beyond the Democrats, Republicans, and billionaire Ross Perot's Reform Party, Democracy Unbound offers a comprehensive guide to progressive political organizing for real democracy, human rights, community renewal, and a fair and sustainable economy. Through compelling stories of successful campaigns by groups across the country, the book provides a detailed picture of how ordinary people can reshape politics in their communities, and explains the contrasting strategies of groups like the New Party, labor-community coalitions, the Labor Party, the Greens, the Campaign for a New Tomorrow, and other third-party coalition efforts. This inspiring book also uncovers the forgotten history of powerful third-party movements in the United States, identifies the potential obstacles confronting grassroots activists, and explains how and why independent political organizing is re-emerging today.

Embracing a diverse spectrum of communities and issues, DemocracyUnbound is a valuable resource for addressing a wide range of concerns: community organizing, African-American politics, labor unions, environmentalism, local government, social movements, political parties, and electoral politics.

369 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Current profile:

David Reynolds is an author, activist, and researcher based in southeast Michigan.

Reynolds has a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University. He helps develop leadership skills among working adults at the Center for Labor and Community Studies, University of Michigan. He also teaches State and Local Government at Eastern Michigan University.

For twenty years he has led a research network that works with the national AFL-CIO to document the regional and state labor movement innovations that, among other things, have produced many of the Partnership for Working Families affiliates.

Reynolds has not simply studied progressive power-building but led local and regional efforts. He is a founder and serves on the board of Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit (D4) – a labor-community coalition aimed at maximizing worker and community benefits from current and future investments in the metropolitan area. He helped facilitate and supported with research over a dozen successful living wage efforts in south-east Michigan. In his hometown he leads Rising for Economic Democracy in Ypsilanti, which in 2019 passed a Community Benefits Ordinance that increases community participation in local economic development. He currently is helping grow broad-based open roundtable to build greater community and communication among progressive groups and individuals in Washtenaw County.

Disambiguated authors:
(1) David B. Reynolds - Economic Politics (Current Profile)
(2) David B. Reynolds - American, self-published romance author, technical writer