Grand Illusion

The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny

Theresa Amato

With a foreword by Ralph Nader

hardcover

$27.95 / £16.99

As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader’s historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives us a witty, thoughtful critique of the American electoral system, as well as a powerful argument for opening up the contest as if people and their daily lives mattered.

While making the case for specific reforms in the United States’ arcane system of ballot access laws, complex federal regulations, and partisan control of elections, Amato also offers a spirited history of how third-party and Independent candidates have kept important issues on the table in elections past and contribute to our country’s political life. Even the most fervent Nader critics will think twice about Nader’s role in 2000, thanks to Amato’s trenchant factual analysis.

Looking beyond the Nader story to campaigns waged by challengers John Anderson, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and others, Amato shows how limiting ourselves to two candidates deprives our country of a robust political life, strips would-be contenders of their free speech and association rights, and cheats voters out of meaningful political choices.

The only woman to have managed two high-profile American presidential campaigns outside the two major parties, Theresa Amato was the national presidential campaign manager and in-house counsel for Ralph Nader in both 2000 and 2004. A graduate of Harvard University and NYU School of Law, she is the founder of the Citizen Advocacy Center in suburban Chicago, a mother, and a practicing lawyer. Amato lives in Oak Park, Illinois.