Gregory P. Downs
Have a tip? Send it Here!
Gregory P. Downs is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis.
![](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1276990769.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
If Democrats sweep the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives this fall, they will have an opportunity to repair the nation’s broken systems, not just make new policies.
![](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/introcafe-series.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
We forget that periodically throughout history, the U.S. has embraced dramatic reforms to how power works when it became clear the system wasn't working.
![](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/civil-war-lessons.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
We should view the Civil War as a second American revolution — with that perspective, we'll be able to realize the reforms necessary to preserve our rights.
![](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/voting-rights-2-main-2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1)
Rebels in the post-Civil War South perfected the art of excluding voters, but it was yankees in the North who developed the script.