James Bennett talked about his book Not Invited to the Party: How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold (Springer; October 21, 2009). He argues that the two-party system is an artificial creation of a network of laws, restrictions, and subsidies that are designed to exclude as a plausible winning alternative any party other than the Democratic or Republican. This deprives voters of truly vigorous political debate, of choices on election day, and arguably, of effective and accurate representation in Congress and the presidency. Theresa Amato and Hans von Spakovsky joined him with comments, moderated by John Samples. They responded to questions from members of the audience.

Theresa Amato is the author of Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny (New Press; June 9, 2009). She was the national presidential campaign manager and in-house counsel for Ralph Nader in both 2000 and 2004.

This Cato Institute Book Forum was held at noon on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.