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| Author | : Joshua A. Chafetz |
| Publisher | : Yale University Press |
| Total Pages | : 319 |
| Release | : 2007-01-01 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0300134894 |
Placing legislative privilege in historical context, Josh Chafetz compares the freedoms and protections of members of the United States Congress with those of Britain's Parliament.
| Author | : Frederic Clemson Howe |
| Publisher | : Theclassics.Us |
| Total Pages | : 74 |
| Release | : 2013-09 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : 9781230456584 |
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXV THE DEMOCRACY OF TO-MORROW We are beginning to see that democracy is something more than the freedom to speak, to write, to worship as one wills, to be faced with one's accusers, and to be tried by one's peers; it involves far more than the absence of absolute government or the tyranny of an hereditary caste. The right of participation in the government, irrespective of birth, race, and creed, and the substitution of manhood suffrage and democratic forms for monarchical institutions, do not of themselves constitute democracy, immeasurably valuable as these achievements are. Democracy, too, involves far more than a system of taxation that is ethically just; it involves far more than the right to trade where one wills, unrestrained by tariff laws; it involves far more than the taking by the community of the wealth that the community creates or the ownership by the people of the highways, so essential to the common life. These fundamental changes in the relation of mankind to its environment do not constitute an end in themselves, any more than does the right of the ballot or of participation in the government. All these things are but means to an end, and that end is industrial freedom, a freedom as full and as free to the poor as to the rich, to the next generation and the generations which follow as it was to the generations which spread themselves out upon an unappropriated continent. Freedom is an industrial far more than a political condition. Unfortunately the idea of freedom suggests license when demanded for all, just as it involves license when enjoyed by the few. Privilege invokes the beneficence of freedom when it would stay the hand of the state in any attempt to control its excesses, just as it invokes the perils...
| Author | : Steven Phillips |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 341 |
| Release | : 2020-10-25 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : |
For A Privileged Few; Confronting America's Dirty Little Secret. Does America have a "dirty little secret" about poverty, health care, COVID-19, race, and even some religious beliefs that many public leaders might not want you to know about? In the book, "For A Privileged Few" we are asked the question - "When a politician says that they care about people, does the question ever come to your mind, 'I wonder if that means they care about people like me?' That may seem like a simplistic question, but the answer might not be as simple as you might think. Because it may mean they only really care about certain 'types' of people. And if that is true, then do you even matter to that politician in the scheme of things that are most important to you? Isn't the very soul of any democracy found in a straight answer to a more basic question...'Do my concerns, needs, problems, hopes, and dreams even matter to anyone who is supposed to represent me?' It is a question that deserves a response." Steven Phillips is a counselor, teacher, and fifth generation minister who has spoken to several million people worldwide in his almost fifty years of service. In "For A Privileged Few" he takes a serious look at what might be the unspoken motivations of certain public decision makers, politicians, and even some religious leaders. In very straightforward terms, he asks the question, "Is it possible that some of these people actually don't care about many of those whom they say they represent?" Dr. Phillips asks some very frank, and even sometimes "painful" questions about how our society operates. He discusses how our nation was created and a number of "unaddressed issues" which have been hindering our continued success ever since. His observations cut to the very core of many of the social, political, and religious issues of our day. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic during an election year in America, many of our values have come under increased scrutiny. It is becoming more and more obvious that many of the people who have been fortunate enough to climb to the top of the ladder of success in America, live in a sort of privileged, almost "caste-like" system of status. And, that privileged status is becoming increasingly unattainable for most Americans. For the first time in living memory, we are seeing growing numbers of our youth continuing to live with their parents after graduating from college. Many of these young Americans are expressing their belief that the so-called, "American Dream" has become evermore elusive for them - they have little hope of finding a good paying job, owning a home of their own, or being able to pay off the crushing debts that they incurred while completing their education. And yet, America is still producing the greatest number of billionaires in the world. Clearly, something is wrong. It could even be said that this unspoken status system has actually been competing with our stated core values of "Life, Liberty, And Justice For All" throughout our history. This possibility is beginning to be more easily demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic - which is having a far greater lethal effect upon hundreds-of-thousands of Americans with less means. Yet many social, economic, political, and even some religious leaders seem to be turning a blind eye to these issues. Like light shining through the cracks in an old suit of armor, Steven asks if the worst public health crisis in the past one hundred years is starting to expose some very troubling conflicts of interests. More importantly, he is trying to caution Americans that they must demand straight answers from all their leaders. Steven's advice? "...In times like these, it's important to know who really has your back."
| Author | : Daniel Laurison |
| Publisher | : Beacon Press |
| Total Pages | : 224 |
| Release | : 2022-06-14 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0807025070 |
The first book to uncover the hidden and powerful role campaign professionals play in shaping American democracy by delving into the exclusive world of politicos through off-the-record interviews We may think we know our politicians, but we know very little about the people who create them. Producing Politics will change the way we think about our country’s political candidates, the campaigns that bolster them, and the people who craft them. Political campaigns are designed to influence voter behavior and determine elections. They are supposed to serve as a conduit between candidates and voters: politicos get to know communities, communicate their concerns to candidates, and encourage individuals to vote. However, sociologist Daniel Laurison reveals a much different reality: campaigns are riddled with outdated strategies, unquestioned conventional wisdom, and preconceived notions about voters that are more reflective of campaign professionals’ implicit bias than the real lives and motivations of Americans. Through over 70 off-the-record interviews with key campaign staff and consultants, Laurison uncovers how the industry creates a political environment that is confusing, polarizing, and alienating to voters. Campaigns are often an echo chamber of staffers with replicate backgrounds and ideologies; most political operatives are white men from middle- to upper-class backgrounds who are driven more by their desire to climb the political ladder than the desire to create an open conversation between voter and candidate. Producing Politics highlights the impact of national campaign professionals in the US through a sociological lens. It explores the role political operatives play in shaping the way that voters understand political candidates, participate in elections, and perceive our democratic process—and is an essential guide to understanding the current American political system.
| Author | : Steven Levitsky |
| Publisher | : Crown |
| Total Pages | : 321 |
| Release | : 2019-01-08 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 1524762946 |
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
| Author | : Jason Brennan |
| Publisher | : Princeton University Press |
| Total Pages | : 309 |
| Release | : 2017-09-26 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 1400888395 |
A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.
| Author | : Alexis de Tocqueville |
| Publisher | : Library of Alexandria |
| Total Pages | : 1320 |
| Release | : 2020-09-28 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 1613105002 |
Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated. I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader. It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings. The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the Government by the aristocracy itself.
| Author | : R. R. DeBenedictis |
| Publisher | : AuthorHouse |
| Total Pages | : 637 |
| Release | : 2014-11-22 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1496954750 |
This is a story of the class struggle between money, politics, and heart. In 1973, the wealthiest one percent of Americans owned only 13% of the countrys assets. Those assets included the equity in homes, businesses, stocks, bonds and property. Forty years, three poorly conceived wars and two major financial disasters later, that figure has risen to nearly 50% at the expense of the average American. Where did this windfall of wealth come from and why did the real income and personal assets of the vast majority of working Americans decline during this same period? Were they just smarter ... or did they just outsmart us? Once thought of as the land of opportunity with a standard of living envied around the world, America has become the land of political manipulations and unconscionable acts in favor of a select few. This factbased fiction novel tells the story of a generation of men and women who sought the elusive American Dream during the decline of the middle class and the deliberate war against those in poverty who can only afford to dream. Richard DeBenedictis story is told through the lives and adventures of four main characters, whom, although of diverse backgrounds, ideologies and social status, are influenced by the self-serving acts of those who want it all. Is this trend reversable or is America, as feared by the authors of our Constitution, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, on its way to becoming ruled by and for The Priviliged Few?
| Author | : Ilya Somin |
| Publisher | : Stanford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 277 |
| Release | : 2013-10-02 |
| Genre | : Law |
| ISBN | : 0804789312 |
One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Often, many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This may be rational, but it creates a nation of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know. In Democracy and Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin mines the depths of ignorance in America and reveals the extent to which it is a major problem for democracy. Somin weighs various options for solving this problem, arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. Somin provocatively argues that people make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.
| Author | : Dara Z. Strolovitch |
| Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
| Total Pages | : 421 |
| Release | : 2023-07-05 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 022679881X |
A deep and thought-provoking examination of crisis politics and their implications for power and marginalization in the United States. From the climate crisis to the opioid crisis to the Coronavirus crisis, the language of crisis is everywhere around us and ubiquitous in contemporary American politics and policymaking. But for every problem that political actors describe as a crisis, there are myriad other equally serious ones that are not described in this way. Why has the term crisis been associated with some problems but not others? What has crisis come to mean, and what work does it do? In When Bad Things Happen to Privileged People, Dara Z. Strolovitch brings a critical eye to the taken-for-granted political vernacular of crisis. Using systematic analyses to trace the evolution of the use of the term crisis by both political elites and outsiders, Strolovitch unpacks the idea of “crisis” in contemporary politics and demonstrates that crisis is itself an operation of politics. She shows that racial justice activists innovated the language of crisis in an effort to transform racism from something understood as natural and intractable and to cast it instead as a policy problem that could be remedied. Dominant political actors later seized on the language of crisis to compel the use of state power, but often in ways that compounded rather than alleviated inequality and injustice. In this eye-opening and important book, Strolovitch demonstrates that understanding crisis politics is key to understanding the politics of racial, gender, and class inequalities in the early twenty-first century.
