Talks & Entertainment

The democracy you live in today is different—completely different—from the democracy you were born into. You probably don’t realize just how radically your republic has been altered during your lifetime. Yet according to former Obama speechwriter and New York Times bestselling author of Thanks, Obama David Litt, our redesigned system of government is responsible for the peril America finds itself in today.

What exactly does our new system of government look like? How do we restore our representative democracy? And how can we truly understand what’s happened to our country without wanting to crawl under a rock? That’s what Litt sets out to answer in Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think. He also tries to crash a party at Mitch McConnell’s old frat house. It goes poorly.

Combining first-person reporting with deep dives into history and political science, Litt creates something you never thought possible: a page-turner about our political process. With achievable solutions to seemingly intractable problems, he lays out an audaciously hopeful blueprint for restoring a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

During his five-year career as a White House speechwriter, Litt served as the lead joke writer for four White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologues, and was the head writer at Funny Or Die DC. In conversation with Ilana Glazer, a comedian, writer, actress and co-creator and star of the critically-acclaimed show “Broad City” and the founder of Generator Collective.