O'Leary, Kevin

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O'Leary, Kevin

PERSONAL:

ADDRESSES:

Office—Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697-5100.

CAREER:

University of California—Irvine, Center for the Study of Democracy, political scientist. Campaigns & Elections, correspondent; OC Metro Magazine, editor; Pasadena Star-News, editorial page editor. Former reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

WRITINGS:

Saving Democracy: A Plan for Real Representation in America, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kevin O'Leary is a political scientist and journalist whose first book, Saving Democracy: A Plan for Real Representation in America, provides a way, he believes, to retool the country's political system to enhance popular participation and better reflect the wishes of the electorate. Among his ideas are relatively easy processes, such as implementing town hall meetings on a large scale and using the Internet as a tool of participation. More ambitious are his proposals to create a one hundred-person assembly for each of the nation's representative districts that would function as a focus group and advise Congress on current issues. Another idea is that of a People's House, comprised of one hundred delegates from each congressional district, who would have the power to approve or veto bills passed by Congress, introduce new bills, and dislodge bills that are stuck in committee. It is "a thought-provoking book," according to Duncan Stewart of Library Journal, who nevertheless concluded that O'Leary's ideas are too radical for a country that has historically been averse to changing its Constitution. However, a reviewer for Reference & Research Book News called some of O'Leary's proposals "surprisingly practical solutions."