This book proposes a radical new way of thinking about our democratic future, our ecological survival, and our ways to keep economies fair. It shows that adopting upper limits to wealth and income; replacing elections with local direct democracy and legal duty involving randomly selected citizens; and replacing welfare and redistribution policies with pre-distribution and reparations promises new solutions to political apathy, discontent, manipulation, economic inequality, unfairness, unequal opportunities, and looming ecological disaster.

Most public debates today focus on the poor, on minorities, and on immigrants when discussing the problems of our democracies. The poor, minorities and immigrants, however, are not our problem. They had no say in designing the kinds of systems that threaten our planet, our wellbeing, and our social and communal lives. They consume very little and thus have a minimal ecological footprint. It is the super-rich who threaten justice, fairness, equal opportunity, and ecological sustainability.

Bernd Reiter is a political scientist and professor at Texas Tech University. He has experience as an instructor, researcher, institute director, study abroad director, and graduate program administrator.

Preface; Chapter 1: Out of Crisis; Chapter 2: Direct Local Democracy and Legal Duty; Chapter 3: Predistribution and Upper Limits; Chapter 4: Reparations; Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications; Final Considerations; Notes; References and Further Readings; Index.