Author: Robert Phillips
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 840

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Author: Douglas J. Amy
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1457506580
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Why a book defending government? Because for decades, right-wing forces in this country have engaged in a relentless and irresponsible campaign of vicious government bashing. Conservatives and libertarians have demonized government, attacked basic safety net programs like Medicare, and undermined vital regulations that protect consumers, investors, workers, and the environment. This book takes on this anti-government movement and shows that most of its criticisms of this institution are highly exaggerated, misleading, or just plain wrong. In reality, American government - despite its flaws - plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good. Most government programs are working well and are actually improving the lives of Americans in innumerable ways. Democratic government is a vital tool for making our world a better place; and if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector. Part I: Why Government is Good. The section of the book describes how government acts as a force for good in society. One chapter chronicles a day in the life of an average middle-class American and identifies the myriad ways that government programs improve our lives. Other chapters describe the forgotten achievements of government; how government is the only way to effectively promote public values like justice and equality; and how a free market economy would be impossible without the elaborate legal and regulatory infrastructure provided by government. Part II: The War on Government. This section of the book chronicles the unrelenting assault on government being waged by conservative forces in this country. Chapters describe how cuts in social programs and rollbacks of regulations have harmed the health, safety, and welfare of millions of Americans and how these assaults have taken place on many fronts - in Congress, the administrative branch, and the federal courts, as well as on the state and local level. Also addressed: how the right's radical anti-government agenda is out of touch with the views and priorities of most Americans, and what the real truth is about government deficits. Part III: How to Revitalize Democracy and Government. There are, in fact, some problems with American government, and we need to address these if we are to restore Americans' faith in this institution. One of the main problems with our government is that it is not accountable and responsive enough to the public. Moneyed special interests too often win out over the public interest. Chapters in this section describe this problem and how we can fix it. There are several reforms - including public financing of elections - that could help our government live up to its democratic ideals. The final chapter discusses strategies for building a pro-government coalition in this country.

Author: Frank Abbott Magruder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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Author: Frank Abbott Magruder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Author: Isabel Sawhill
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300230362
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
A sobering account of a disenfranchised American working class and important policy solutions to the nation's economic inequalities One of the country's leading scholars on economics and social policy, Isabel Sawhill addresses the enormous divisions in American society--economic, cultural, and political--and what might be done to bridge them. Widening inequality and the loss of jobs to trade and technology has left a significant portion of the American workforce disenfranchised and skeptical of governments and corporations alike. And yet both have a role to play in improving the country for all. Sawhill argues for a policy agenda based on mainstream values, such as family, education, and work. Although many have lost faith in government programs designed to help them, there are still trusted institutions on both the local and the federal level that can deliver better job opportunities and higher wages to those who have been left behind. At the same time, the private sector needs to reexamine how it trains and rewards employees. This book provides a clear-headed and middle-way path to a better-functioning society in which personal responsibility is honored and inclusive capitalism and more broadly shared growth are once more the norm.

Author: Kenneth J. Long
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739132717
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
The Trouble with America critiques the theory and practice of American government, focusing on the fatal flaws of America's core political arrangements. Institutionalized pluralism, the structural dispersal of power, generates government too weak to solve our public problems. American constitutionalism, the limitation of government power and authority, protects property rights far better than it defends our civil liberties, and it offers little or no protection for non-citizens. Capitalism is a hyper-competitive and grossly unfair economic system, which rewards pre-existing wealth far better than hard work or talent, and encourages petty materialist consumption of mostly low-quality goods, undermining taste as well as fairness. Taken together, pluralism, constitutionalism, and capitalism in America harm our society in a myriad of ways, leaving us with inadequate representation, poor leadership, social and political paralysis and irresponsibility, unrealistic self-images, and scandalously poor domestic and foreign policies. This book will prove a valuable supplement in American government courses, an alternative to the centrist material currently dominating textbooks on this subject.

Author: Frank Abbott Magruder
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781330328675
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Excerpt from American Government With a Consideration of the Problems of Democracy The aims of American Government may be summed up under four heads: - First, to impress upon the pupil his responsibility, as a future citizen, for the development of better government. Second, to show how the state has developed from a simple organization for defense to the complex socialized society of to-day; and to make it clear that government is not operated according to preconceived theories, hut is a living organism developed by the people to meet the needs resulting from changing conditions; to show, for example, that the Constitution of the United States is not a dead contract, but a living agreement which has developed with time and has adapted itself to economic and social conditions. Third, to explain the actual operation of the National, State, and Local governments, emphasizing the functions of government without neglecting the necessary details of frame-work. Fourth, to make plain the influence of the judiciary; and to present the political and social problems of to-day, such as the initiative, referendum, recall, short ballot, woman suffrage, industrial education, and prohibition. The author has endeavored to make all important facts stand out clearly, by separating details from the main text, by explaining fully in footnotes all necessary technical terms, and by placing interesting collateral material in the questions for discussion. The text is further simplified by brief examples, outlines, diagrams, maps, and illustrations taken from all sections of the country, the details regarding each State being given in their proper setting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author: Gary Gerstle
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691178216
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
How the conflict between federal and state power has shaped American history American governance is burdened by a paradox. On the one hand, Americans don't want "big government" meddling in their lives; on the other hand, they have repeatedly enlisted governmental help to impose their views regarding marriage, abortion, religion, and schooling on their neighbors. These contradictory stances on the role of public power have paralyzed policymaking and generated rancorous disputes about government’s legitimate scope. How did we reach this political impasse? Historian Gary Gerstle, looking at two hundred years of U.S. history, argues that the roots of the current crisis lie in two contrasting theories of power that the Framers inscribed in the Constitution. One theory shaped the federal government, setting limits on its power in order to protect personal liberty. Another theory molded the states, authorizing them to go to extraordinary lengths, even to the point of violating individual rights, to advance the "good and welfare of the commonwealth." The Framers believed these theories could coexist comfortably, but conflict between the two has largely defined American history. Gerstle shows how national political leaders improvised brilliantly to stretch the power of the federal government beyond where it was meant to go—but at the cost of giving private interests and state governments too much sway over public policy. The states could be innovative, too. More impressive was their staying power. Only in the 1960s did the federal government, impelled by the Cold War and civil rights movement, definitively assert its primacy. But as the power of the central state expanded, its constitutional authority did not keep pace. Conservatives rebelled, making the battle over government’s proper dominion the defining issue of our time. From the Revolution to the Tea Party, and the Bill of Rights to the national security state, Liberty and Coercion is a revelatory account of the making and unmaking of government in America.

Author: Timothy O. Lenz
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 1616102195
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 525

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Book Description
This exciting new book explores the role of government, politics, and policy in American lives. Full of real life applications and scenarios, this text encourages and enables political thinking. The second edition has been updated to include recent developments in U.S. politics and government. This includes the description and analysis of the 2016 elections as well as the early Trump administration. Chapters have expanded coverage of immigration policy, environmental policy, economic policy, and global affairs (including counterterrorism policy). The text also includes analysis of racial issues in contemporary American politics and law. It also addresses questions about the state of the economy, jobs, and wages. Hyperlinks and URLs provide "deeper dives" into various topics and examples of comparative politics.

Author: Amy E. Lerman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022663020X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
American government is in the midst of a reputation crisis. An overwhelming majority of citizens—Republicans and Democrats alike—hold negative perceptions of the government and believe it is wasteful, inefficient, and doing a generally poor job managing public programs and providing public services. When social problems arise, Americans are therefore skeptical that the government has the ability to respond effectively. It’s a serious problem, argues Amy E. Lerman, and it will not be a simple one to fix. With Good Enough for Government Work, Lerman uses surveys, experiments, and public opinion data to argue persuasively that the reputation of government is itself an impediment to government’s ability to achieve the common good. In addition to improving its efficiency and effectiveness, government therefore has an equally critical task: countering the belief that the public sector is mired in incompetence. Lerman takes readers through the main challenges. Negative perceptions are highly resistant to change, she shows, because we tend to perceive the world in a way that confirms our negative stereotypes of government—even in the face of new information. Those who hold particularly negative perceptions also begin to “opt out” in favor of private alternatives, such as sending their children to private schools, living in gated communities, and refusing to participate in public health insurance programs. When sufficient numbers of people opt out of public services, the result can be a decline in the objective quality of public provision. In this way, citizens’ beliefs about government can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with consequences for all. Lerman concludes with practical solutions for how the government might improve its reputation and roll back current efforts to eliminate or privatize even some of the most critical public services.