Democracy in America?
What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It
Enlarged
9780226724935
9780226729947
Democracy in America?
What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It
Enlarged
America faces daunting problems—stagnant wages, high health care costs, neglected schools, deteriorating public services. How did we get here? Through decades of dysfunctional government. In Democracy in America? veteran political observers Benjamin I. Page and Martin Gilens marshal an unprecedented array of evidence to show that while other countries have responded to a rapidly changing economy by helping people who’ve been left behind, the United States has failed to do so. Instead, we have actually exacerbated inequality, enriching corporations and the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves.
What’s the solution? More democracy. More opportunities for citizens to shape what their government does. To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans.
Updated with new information, this book lays out a set of proposals that would boost citizen participation, curb the power of money, and democratize the House and Senate.
What’s the solution? More democracy. More opportunities for citizens to shape what their government does. To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans.
Updated with new information, this book lays out a set of proposals that would boost citizen participation, curb the power of money, and democratize the House and Senate.
352 pages | 13 line drawings, 1 table | 6 x 9 | © 2020
Political Science: American Government and Politics, Political Behavior and Public Opinion
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Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Part One: Introduction
One More Democracy
Two Unequal Wealth Distorts Politics
Part Two: What has Gone Wrong
Three Thwarting the Will of the People
Four The Political Clout of Wealthy Americans
Five Corporations and Interest Groups
Six Polarized Parties and Gridlock
Part Three: What Can Be Done
Seven Equal Voice for All Citizens
Eight Overcoming Gridlock and Democratizing Institutions
Part Four: How To Do It
Nine A Social Movement for Democracy
Ten Signs of Progress
Part One: Introduction
One More Democracy
Two Unequal Wealth Distorts Politics
Part Two: What has Gone Wrong
Three Thwarting the Will of the People
Four The Political Clout of Wealthy Americans
Five Corporations and Interest Groups
Six Polarized Parties and Gridlock
Part Three: What Can Be Done
Seven Equal Voice for All Citizens
Eight Overcoming Gridlock and Democratizing Institutions
Part Four: How To Do It
Nine A Social Movement for Democracy
Ten Signs of Progress
Afterword: A Critical Juncture
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Interest Groups Studied
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Interest Groups Studied
Notes
References
Index