by John Nichols ; Robert W. McChesney ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2013
An alarming, not-incorrect diagnosis, but an argument too one-sided and a solution so lofty as to be of little use.
Collaborating once more (The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again, 2010), Nichols, the Nation’s Washington, D.C., correspondent, and academic McChesney (Communications/Univ. of Illinois) decry the pernicious influence of Big Money on our elections.
Mining the $10 billion 2012 campaign for supporting data and illustrative anecdotes, the authors explain how the plutocrats have seized control of our electoral process, to the detriment of everyday Americans. It’s a conspiracy, they write, among the major parties, their big money donors, lobbyists, consultants, super PACs and giant media corporations, all benefiting from the status quo. The unobstructed flow of Big Money washing through the system has been aided, they argue, by a series of Supreme Court decisions that beat back any attempt at reform—Citizens United is singled out for special opprobrium—and abetted by a supine journalistic establishment too obsessed with the horse race and too beholden to the financial windfall accompanying each election cycle to advocate for change. Though Nichols and McChesney take an occasional swipe at the "too friendly to business" ethos that infected the Democrats under Clinton and the Obama campaign’s dangerous, digital incursions on our privacy, they reserve most of their fire for Republicans, for their wealthy backers—the Koch brothers, Richard Mellon Scaife, Sheldon Adelson—their supportive media—Fox News, Rush Limbaugh—political masterminds—Karl Rove, Lee Atwater—and judicial “architects” of the dollarocracy—Burger, Powell, Roberts—who’ve helped ensure a corrupt system. The authors reject contentions that the Internet will permit voters to break through the barriers erected by the moneyed interests and, instead, propose a radical reform agenda that includes a constitutional amendment to dispose of Citizens United, the abolition of the Electoral College, free airtime for candidates and the establishment of a nonpartisan Election Commission.
An alarming, not-incorrect diagnosis, but an argument too one-sided and a solution so lofty as to be of little use.Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56858-707-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Nation Books
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
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by Bernie Sanders with John Nichols
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by John Nichols
BOOK REVIEW
by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2018
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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More by Steven Levitsky
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by Bari Weiss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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