1.4: Why a User's Manual?

Even if you are a user of America, the fact that it was designed to be intuitive and user-friendly raises the question of whether it needs a user’s manual at all. Assuming one exists (which it does—you’re looking at it right now), why should anyone should bother reading it?

The most obvious reason to read this book is probably to pass this class. After all, if this the assigned reading for a course, odds are the instructor expects you to know the material in it and will quiz or test you to make sure you do. That might be enough motivation to keep you turning pages. (It’s certainly the case that too many instructors assume it will be.) But it’s a rather unsatisfying answer, sort of like when frustrated parents tell their children “Because I said so.” The obvious follow-up question of why the instructor assigned the book in the first place is left unanswered.

A better reason to read this book is that it will be useful to you if you intend to major or minor in political science, and particularly if you intend to pursue a career related to politics. But that answer too leaves something to be desired. For one thing, it only applies to people whose educational or professional aspirations are political. Furthermore, even if you are one of those people, you might not be keen on reading a textbook, especially when there’s so much political news and commentary to read and watch that is far more exciting and interesting than even the best textbooks.

The south wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., bears Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, including the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

An even better reason to read this book is that it will enable you to use America more effectively. Although it’s true that America is designed for users who don’t know much about it, knowing even just a little bit more can make you a much more proficient user. You might think you know all that’s worth knowing about your car or cell phone, but reading the user’s manual can alert you to buttons or levers you never noticed before (or that you noticed but never understood what they were for) that can make your “user experience” more comfortable, efficient, or fulfilling. Reading this user’s manual won’t make you a full-blown political expert, any more than reading your car’s user’s manual will make you a mechanic or a stunt driver. Still, knowing the basics covered in this book will enable you to vote better, speak more intelligently about politics, and understand more deeply what’s going on in the news and why.

Perhaps the best reason to read this book, though, is that sometimes America doesn’t work. Like any machine, it occasionally fails, breaks down, malfunctions, leaks, or makes a funny noise. Some of these problems are minor; others are major. Some are caused when working parts are replaced with cheap substitutes; others are caused when old parts are not properly maintained or replaced. Sometimes what seems like a problem at first is actually evidence that America is working exactly as designed; sometimes the problem is a flaw in the design itself. A good user’s manual tells you what warning signs to watch out for, which problems are serious and which are not, and whether a problem is preventable or inevitable. Similarly, this book will help you identify problems in American government and politics, understand what causes them, and decide what — if anything — to do about them.

User’s manuals don’t usually include a lot of information about the history of a product — how it was made, how its design has changed over time, and so on. This user’s manual does contain quite a bit of that history, because to properly understand how America works today one must also understand how it got that way.