A Liberal in City Government

A Liberal in City Government PDF Author: Frank P. Zeidler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In this revealing memoir, Frank Zeidler reflects on his victories and losses during his tenure as mayor of Milwaukee from 1948 to 1960. Although the era was marked by Cold War tensions and McCarthyism, Frank Zeidler held fast to his Socialist ideals and was re-elected mayor each time he campaigned. He was the last Socialist mayor of a major American city. During his three terms as mayor, Frank Zeidler played a pivotal role in Milwaukee?s growth, more than doubling the land area of the city while fighting the forces of suburban sprawl. At the same time, he succeeded in advancing the tradition of honest and efficient government established by Milwaukee Socialists in the first half of the century. In writing of his past service, Frank Zeidler explores issues that are still relevant today. Can vital services and resources be shared fairly among vastly different communities? Can governments find new ways to put aside conflicts and achieve genuine cooperation? Can third party candidates position themselves to win public office, and if so, can they provide effective leadership without the support of a powerful party machine? Can government be kept free of graft and corruption? Can the public interest be served if government hears only the voices of powerful special interest groups while ignoring the needs of individuals who are too weak to have a voice?Historian John Gurda writes, "'A Liberal in City Government' is the political testament of a singular figure in modern American history. As Milwaukee?s mayor for twelve years and its leading citizen-statesman ever since, Frank Zeidler earned broad respect for his integrity, his vision, and unwavering commitment to his Socialist ideals. This book, written from the intersection of principles and politics, sheds light on a formative period in our nation?s urban history - the years just after World War II - but it is even more compelling as the record of a man who never stopped trying to lift the society around him to higher levels of justice and compassion."

A Liberal in City Government

A Liberal in City Government PDF Author: Frank P. Zeidler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Get Book

Book Description
In this revealing memoir, Frank Zeidler reflects on his victories and losses during his tenure as mayor of Milwaukee from 1948 to 1960. Although the era was marked by Cold War tensions and McCarthyism, Frank Zeidler held fast to his Socialist ideals and was re-elected mayor each time he campaigned. He was the last Socialist mayor of a major American city. During his three terms as mayor, Frank Zeidler played a pivotal role in Milwaukee?s growth, more than doubling the land area of the city while fighting the forces of suburban sprawl. At the same time, he succeeded in advancing the tradition of honest and efficient government established by Milwaukee Socialists in the first half of the century. In writing of his past service, Frank Zeidler explores issues that are still relevant today. Can vital services and resources be shared fairly among vastly different communities? Can governments find new ways to put aside conflicts and achieve genuine cooperation? Can third party candidates position themselves to win public office, and if so, can they provide effective leadership without the support of a powerful party machine? Can government be kept free of graft and corruption? Can the public interest be served if government hears only the voices of powerful special interest groups while ignoring the needs of individuals who are too weak to have a voice?Historian John Gurda writes, "'A Liberal in City Government' is the political testament of a singular figure in modern American history. As Milwaukee?s mayor for twelve years and its leading citizen-statesman ever since, Frank Zeidler earned broad respect for his integrity, his vision, and unwavering commitment to his Socialist ideals. This book, written from the intersection of principles and politics, sheds light on a formative period in our nation?s urban history - the years just after World War II - but it is even more compelling as the record of a man who never stopped trying to lift the society around him to higher levels of justice and compassion."

The Conscience of a Liberal

The Conscience of a Liberal PDF Author: Paul Krugman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393067114
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"The most consistent and courageous—and unapologetic—liberal partisan in American journalism." —Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books In this "clear, provocative" (Boston Globe) New York Times bestseller, Paul Krugman, today's most widely read economist, examines the past eighty years of American history, from the reforms that tamed the harsh inequality of the Gilded Age and the 1920s to the unraveling of that achievement and the reemergence of immense economic and political inequality since the 1970s. Seeking to understand both what happened to middle-class America and what it will take to achieve a "new New Deal," Krugman has created his finest book to date, a "stimulating manifesto" offering "a compelling historical defense of liberalism and a clarion call for Americans to retake control of their economic destiny" (Publishers Weekly). "As Democrats seek a rationale not merely for returning to power, but for fundamentally changing—or changing back—the relationship between America's government and its citizens, Mr. Krugman's arguments will prove vital in the months and years ahead." —Peter Beinart, New York Times

Staten Island

Staten Island PDF Author: Daniel C. Kramer
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761858318
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
This book chronicles how the "forgotten borough" has grappled with its uneasy relationship with the rest of the City of New York since the 1920s. The authors analyze the politics behind events that have shaped Staten Island.

Local Government in Liberal Democracies

Local Government in Liberal Democracies PDF Author: J. A. Chandler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134962746
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The quality and nature of local government varies widely between countries. This introductory text looks at the workings of local government in England and Wales, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Canada and the USA. The chapters have a similar format so the student has a framework for systematic comparisons of the different case studies and a comprehensive conclusion summarises major differences and relationships between the structures studied.

Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism

Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism PDF Author: Paul Sabin
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393634051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The story of the dramatic postwar struggle over the proper role of citizens and government in American society. In the 1960s and 1970s, an insurgent attack on traditional liberalism took shape in America. It was built on new ideals of citizen advocacy and the public interest. Environmentalists, social critics, and consumer advocates like Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, and Ralph Nader crusaded against what they saw as a misguided and often corrupt government. Drawing energy from civil rights protests and opposition to the Vietnam War, the new citizens’ movement drew legions of followers and scored major victories. Citizen advocates disrupted government plans for urban highways and new hydroelectric dams and got Congress to pass tough legislation to protect clean air and clean water. They helped lead a revolution in safety that forced companies and governments to better protect consumers and workers from dangerous products and hazardous work conditions. And yet, in the process, citizen advocates also helped to undermine big government liberalism—the powerful alliance between government, business, and labor that dominated the United States politically in the decades following the New Deal and World War II. Public interest advocates exposed that alliance’s secret bargains and unintended consequences. They showed how government power often was used to advance private interests rather than restrain them. In the process of attacking government for its failings and its dangers, the public interest movement struggled to replace traditional liberalism with a new approach to governing. The citizen critique of government power instead helped clear the way for their antagonists: Reagan-era conservatives seeking to slash regulations and enrich corporations. Public Citizens traces the history of the public interest movement and explores its tangled legacy, showing the ways in which American liberalism has been at war with itself. The book forces us to reckon with the challenges of regaining our faith in government’s ability to advance the common good.

The Leftmost City

The Leftmost City PDF Author: Richard Gendron
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042997597X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Almost all US cities are controlled by real estate and development interests, but Santa Cruz, California, is a deviant case. An unusual coalition of socialist-feminists, environmentalists, social-welfare liberals, and neighborhood activists has stopped every growth project proposed by landowners and developers since 1969, and controlled the city council since 1981. Even after a 1989 earthquake forced the city to rebuild its entire downtown, the progressive elected officials prevailed over developers and landowners. Drawing on hundreds of primary documents, as well as original, previously unpublished interviews, The Leftmost City utilizes an extended case study of Santa Cruz to critique three major theories of urban power: Marxism, public-choice theory, and regime theory. Santa Cruz is presented within the context of other progressive attempts to shape city government, and the authors' findings support growth-coalition theory, which stresses the conflict between real estate interests and neighborhoods as the fundamental axis of urban politics. The authors conclude their analysis by applying insights gleaned from Santa Cruz to progressive movements nationwide, offering a template for progressive coalitions to effectively organize to achieve political power.

Democracy in Political Action

Democracy in Political Action PDF Author: Liberal Party of New York State
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Campaign literature
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description


The Challenge of the Working-class City

The Challenge of the Working-class City PDF Author: Eric Jon Fure-Slocum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 754

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Book Description


Report of the Town's Committee, on the Subject of City Government

Report of the Town's Committee, on the Subject of City Government PDF Author: Salem (Mass.). Committee on Adoption of a City Form of Government
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Municipal government
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description


Liberal City, Conservative State

Liberal City, Conservative State PDF Author: Robert William Thurston
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195364600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Between 1906 and the outbreak of World War I, Moscow was the locale of great uncertainty and experimentation. Moscow's liberal leaders sought social and political stability for their city following the violence of the 1905 revolution by offering attractive programs in education, employment, housing and other areas to Moscow's unruly lower classes. They were countered in their efforts, however, by central authorities of the Old Regime, who feared the political effects of these programs and stressed social rigidity. Liberal City, Conservative State examines the resulting clash between the city and the state as it brought to the surface and exacerbated the deep tensions plaguing Russia by the eve of World War I. It focuses on the roots of this dispute, juxtaposing the Old Regime's rural background and orientation with the urban concerns of Moscow's liberals, and sees the state's essential failure in its inability to come to terms with the realities of urban life and growth. Providing new perspectives and insights into Russian liberalism, the scope and urgency of urban problems, and the importance of tsarist ideology in conditioning development after 1905, Moscow's story sheds light on the unsolved dilemmas and contradictions that pushed Russia inexorably toward revolution.