Not Invited to the Party demonstrates how the dominant political parties--the Democrats and Republicans--have co-opted the system to their advantage. James Bennett examines the history and array of laws, regulations, subsidies and programs that benefit the two major parties and discourage even the possibility of a serious challenge to the Democrat-Republican duopoly. The American Founders, as it has been generally forgotten, distrusted political parties. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are parties mentioned, much less given legal protection or privilege. This provocative book traces how by the end of the Civil War the Republicans and Democrats had guaranteed their dominance and subsequently influenced a range of policies developed to protect the duopoly. For example, Bennett examines how the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as amended in 1974 and 1976), which was sold to the public as a nonpartisan act of good government reformism actually reinforced the dominance of the two parties. While focused primarily on the American experience, the book also considers the prevalence of two-party systems around the world (especially in emerging democracies) and the widespread contempt with which they are often viewed. Featuring incisive commentary on the 2008 election, and a foreword by third-party iconoclast, Ralph Nader, the book considers the potential of truly radical reform toward opening the field to vigorous, lively, contentious independent candidacies that might finally offer alienated voters a choice, not an echo.
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From the reviews: “James T. Bennett analyzes the roots of political duopoly in this informative, although dense book. … Bennett starts with the notion that The Founders distrusted political parties. … This is very informative book, and you can feel Bennett’s passion about this issue. … I am still recommending this book to anyone who is interested in politics and the history of politics. … I am moving this up to four stars. I have learnt a lot from this book.” (Joanna, Goodreads, July, 2010) “This brief but dense book … sets out to do what it is meant to do and does it extremely well, hence the four stars. Bennett gives a detailed look at why third parties have it so hard in the United State and how the two main parties, Democrats and Republicans, stack the field against any competition. … This book may have a narrow interest factor but those who read it will have plenty of information to digest.” (Marvin, Goodreads, July, 2010) “3.5 stars. … some very powerful statements are in this book. For example, ‘Three hundred million people. Two choices. It doesn’t add up.’ It’s so true! I had no idea how many hoops these parties (other than R and D) have to jump through just to get their names on the ballot. … Recommend this book to everyone, ESPECIALLY before elections.” (Mandy McHenry, Goodreads, July, 2010)
From the Back Cover
"In this caustic, irreverent book, James T. Bennett reveals how regulation of the political system is used to keep the ‘ins’ in and the ‘outs’ out. The United States has benefitted from the separation of church and state: Not Invited to the Party demonstrates how the country could benefit from a wall of separation between political parties, campaigns, and state." Brad Smith, Professor of Law, Capital University, and former Chairman, Federal Election Commission For many participants and pundits, the 2008 U.S. Presidential election was a watershed event, representing unprecedented public involvement in the political process. Yet for third-party candidates and supporters, it was yet another reminder of how the dominant parties have co-opted the system to their advantage, crippling potential challengers and limiting voter choice. In Not Invited to the Party, James Bennett reveals how the Democrats and Republicans have contributed to an array of laws, subsidies, and programs that have secured their lock on American politics. The Founding Fathers, as has been generally forgotten, distrusted political parties. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are parties mentioned, much less given legal protection or privilege. This provocative book traces how by the end of the Civil War the two parties had cemented their position and subsequently influenced a range of policies developed to protect their duopoly. For example, Bennett examines how the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which was sold to the public as a nonpartisan act of good government reformism, actually reinforced the dominance of the two parties. While focused primarily on the American experience, the book also considers the prevalence of two-party systems around the world (especially in emerging democracies) and the widespread contempt with which they are often viewed. Featuring incisive commentary on the 2008 election, a foreword by third-party iconoclast, Ralph Nader, and an afterword by Libertarian National Committee Chairman, William Redpath, the book considers the potential for achieving truly radical reform toward opening the field to vigorous, lively, contentious third-party candidacies. Not Invited to the Party is an important contribution to any discussion of the impact of party politics and the prospects for achieving effective representation. James T. Bennett is Eminent Scholar and William P. Snavely Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at George Mason University and Director of The John M. Olin Institute for Employment Practice and Policy. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and over a dozen books, including From Pathology to Politics, Unhealthy Charities, and The Politics of American Feminism. In 1780 John Adams presciently argued that the "division of the republic into two great parties . . . is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil." Despite record turnouts for the 2008 presidential election, Adams’ fears have been realized. What would the Founding Fathers say now? "There is much to ponder in this book. It makes one wonder just how the voters, given the ultimatum that only one of two candidates — if that — can win the elections — can ever escape their chattled desire to vote for "winners" while they — the people — keep losing." From the Foreword by Ralph Nader "A carefully researched and highly readable book that shows how federal, state, and local governments have enacted laws, regulations, and subsidies that discriminate in favor of the Democratic and Republican parties and virtually prohibit challenges by independent parties and candidates. The unfortunate result is limited choice in the political arena. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in political competition and public policy." Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University "Finally, a book that exposes the reality that U.S. elections are substantially less free and less meaningful than elections in most other developed nations. Professor Bennett, an economist, has given us a book that should have emerged long ago from the ranks of political scientists... [A]n interesting and very well-written study full of insights into the election process." Richard Winger, Editor, Ballot Access News "James Bennett combines a detailed historical analysis of the rise of the two party system with the insights of the public choice school of economics to explain how the American people are ill-served by laws that limit their choices at the ballot box. Every American looking for ways to increase voter participation and open up the political process to all points of view should read this important book." Norman Kirk Singleton, Legislative Director, Congressman Ron Paul
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An author writing about American ballot access issues is, by the nature of the subject, likely to lie outside the political spectrum embraced by the dominant two political parties. It's understandable that such a person would be bitter about the fact that his political faction is effectively shut out by a system of ballot laws designed to exclude competition and protect incumbents. Under the circumstances, it is only to be expected that a bit of that author's personal political views, and his anger about the injustice of the situation, would bleed into his work around the edges.
What I didn't expect- and what ought not to be expected- is for the actual topic of the work to be buried in Libertarian Party political screed.
James Bennett ruins what could have been a persuasive work with his anger and his need to convert others to his cause. The book routinely diverges from its topic for paragraph-long, and occasionally page-long, diversions to excoriate Big Two politicians- often for reasons which have absolutely nothing to do with the issue of ballot access or campaign finance. In addition to the diatribes, the topical portions of the book are shot-through with name-calling and gratuitous aspersions on the motivations and character of everyone involved with the creation of the current political system, stretching back almost to the Founding Fathers themselves.
Worst of all, however, Bennett keeps trying to turn his book on the rigged political system into an indoctrination on Libertarianism. His prime, overarching cure for the rigged political system does not involve lowering ballot access restrictions, abolishing or adjusting campaign finance laws, or blocking corporate entities from spending money on political action. Instead, his solution to a non-competitive political system is: make the government smaller and weaker. This point, this philosophy, is repeated routinely through the book from beginning to end- to the point that non-Libertarians (or, like myself, former Libertarians who have rejected the philosophy) will find the work unreadable.
All of this is sad, because underneath the screed and political stump speaking there lie important arguments and well-researched information. Bennett has done thorough research on the history of the American ballot and the laws surrounding it. Each chapter concludes with footnotes and bibliography leading to primary sources. Granted, these sources skew towards Libertarian-associated groups (the Cato Institute figures prominently), but since third-party movements are the most likely and motivated students of the subject this is only to be expected. Had the book been written from a more neutral point of view, or at least with less vitriol and sarcasm, it would be an effective tool to help persuade others of the need for a broader ballot and more open campaign finance laws.
Instead, by allowing a scholarly work to degenerate into about a hundred and eighty pages of populist stump speech in the sort of language Glenn Beck routinely uses, Bennett renders it useless for outreach to anyone other than Libertarians- that is, only the people who already know and believe in everything in the book beforehand will be able to read it. For non-Libertarians, the best way to use this book is to photocopy the lists of notes and bibliography, then go to those sources, and read them instead.
What I didn't expect- and what ought not to be expected- is for the actual topic of the work to be buried in Libertarian Party political screed.
James Bennett ruins what could have been a persuasive work with his anger and his need to convert others to his cause. The book routinely diverges from its topic for paragraph-long, and occasionally page-long, diversions to excoriate Big Two politicians- often for reasons which have absolutely nothing to do with the issue of ballot access or campaign finance. In addition to the diatribes, the topical portions of the book are shot-through with name-calling and gratuitous aspersions on the motivations and character of everyone involved with the creation of the current political system, stretching back almost to the Founding Fathers themselves.
Worst of all, however, Bennett keeps trying to turn his book on the rigged political system into an indoctrination on Libertarianism. His prime, overarching cure for the rigged political system does not involve lowering ballot access restrictions, abolishing or adjusting campaign finance laws, or blocking corporate entities from spending money on political action. Instead, his solution to a non-competitive political system is: make the government smaller and weaker. This point, this philosophy, is repeated routinely through the book from beginning to end- to the point that non-Libertarians (or, like myself, former Libertarians who have rejected the philosophy) will find the work unreadable.
All of this is sad, because underneath the screed and political stump speaking there lie important arguments and well-researched information. Bennett has done thorough research on the history of the American ballot and the laws surrounding it. Each chapter concludes with footnotes and bibliography leading to primary sources. Granted, these sources skew towards Libertarian-associated groups (the Cato Institute figures prominently), but since third-party movements are the most likely and motivated students of the subject this is only to be expected. Had the book been written from a more neutral point of view, or at least with less vitriol and sarcasm, it would be an effective tool to help persuade others of the need for a broader ballot and more open campaign finance laws.
Instead, by allowing a scholarly work to degenerate into about a hundred and eighty pages of populist stump speech in the sort of language Glenn Beck routinely uses, Bennett renders it useless for outreach to anyone other than Libertarians- that is, only the people who already know and believe in everything in the book beforehand will be able to read it. For non-Libertarians, the best way to use this book is to photocopy the lists of notes and bibliography, then go to those sources, and read them instead.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
As irritating as it may be to admit, Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran, was right when in 2005 he said "There is only a veneer of democracy in the United States..." How is this true you ask? "Election laws are so complicated in your county that people have no choice but to vote for one of the candidates who are with one of the two parties," Rafsanjani said.
James T. Bennett, Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at George Mason University, explains America's problem in his most recent book Not Invited to the Party, aptly subtitled How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold. Bennett covers many issues in Not Invited to the Party but focuses most heavily on two. One, campaign finance reform, which is discussed often by electoral reform groups. The second, ballot access reform, rarely sees the light of day in the media and meets major opposition in a likely place, the state legislature.
In Bennett's skillful and often comical manner, he lays out the history of the ballot in the United States, from the days when political parties printed and distributed their own ballots to our current system adopted during the Progressive Era of the state-regulated or printed ballot enforced by ballot access laws. Bennett explains how ballot laws where started as a way to determine who the State should put on the ballot, and quickly -- nearly instantly -- became a method to freeze the status quo by ridding the two major parties of opposition.
He notes Richard Winger's observation that, in states with restrictive ballot access laws, minor parties do not often win elections, but in states where ballot access laws are less restrictive minor parties do win elections. However, as Bennett conveys over the course of Not Invited to the Party, what major party politician wants to lower the chances of re-election by opening up the ballot to more choices when all they must do is restrict choice, freeze the status quo and remain in office? All, of course, at the expense of free choice and an individual's freedom of political expression at the ballot box.
Bennett also covers an important aspect of campaign finance reform, so-called "Voter-Owned Elections," otherwise referred to as Taxpayer-Funded Elections or "welfare for politicians." He shows how the use of public money to supposedly cleanse political campaigns of corrupt big money does not help expand the field of choices or even weed out corruption, but instead ensures only the major parties are able to compete. The result is that major party incumbents become safe in their seats. The Federal Election Campaign Act (or FECA) should correctly be called the Incumbents Protection Act, Bennett writes.
Put simply, anyone serious about election reform needs to read Not Invited to the Party. Bennett has put together a mass of information that shows why the electoral reform community has missed the mark by ignoring the issue of ballot access and allowing politicians to continue to violate American citizen's freedom of speech at the ballot box.
Bennett says that we must break down these barriers to ballot access and replace them "with commonsense rules that permit the widest possible variety of candidates and parties to participate... [and] reduce the powers of the central government and the privileges and subsides it hands out."
It is a sad day when it is easier to get on the ballot in post-Soviet Moscow and post- Saddam Hussein Iraq than it is in many American states such as Oklahoma and North Carolina. Bennett quotes Economists Burton A. Abrams and Russell F. Settle who said "[free] markets and individual liberty have served the United States and its citizens well. Why adopt a non-market solution for running political campaigns?"
Competition is healthy for the state and good for its citizens. As Bennett advocates in Not Invited to the Parties, we need to restore competition to the ballot in all 50 American states and allow all American's to exercise their right to vote again.
Copyright © 2010 Jordon M. Greene. Jordon M. Greene is the President and Founder of the North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections PAC, member of the Constitution Party of North Carolina's State Executive Committee and Ballot Access Committee, Political Science student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and formerly served in 2008 as Campaign Manager for the Bryan Greene 2008 Congressional Campaign Committee.
Read this Review in its original context at [...]
James T. Bennett, Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at George Mason University, explains America's problem in his most recent book Not Invited to the Party, aptly subtitled How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold. Bennett covers many issues in Not Invited to the Party but focuses most heavily on two. One, campaign finance reform, which is discussed often by electoral reform groups. The second, ballot access reform, rarely sees the light of day in the media and meets major opposition in a likely place, the state legislature.
In Bennett's skillful and often comical manner, he lays out the history of the ballot in the United States, from the days when political parties printed and distributed their own ballots to our current system adopted during the Progressive Era of the state-regulated or printed ballot enforced by ballot access laws. Bennett explains how ballot laws where started as a way to determine who the State should put on the ballot, and quickly -- nearly instantly -- became a method to freeze the status quo by ridding the two major parties of opposition.
He notes Richard Winger's observation that, in states with restrictive ballot access laws, minor parties do not often win elections, but in states where ballot access laws are less restrictive minor parties do win elections. However, as Bennett conveys over the course of Not Invited to the Party, what major party politician wants to lower the chances of re-election by opening up the ballot to more choices when all they must do is restrict choice, freeze the status quo and remain in office? All, of course, at the expense of free choice and an individual's freedom of political expression at the ballot box.
Bennett also covers an important aspect of campaign finance reform, so-called "Voter-Owned Elections," otherwise referred to as Taxpayer-Funded Elections or "welfare for politicians." He shows how the use of public money to supposedly cleanse political campaigns of corrupt big money does not help expand the field of choices or even weed out corruption, but instead ensures only the major parties are able to compete. The result is that major party incumbents become safe in their seats. The Federal Election Campaign Act (or FECA) should correctly be called the Incumbents Protection Act, Bennett writes.
Put simply, anyone serious about election reform needs to read Not Invited to the Party. Bennett has put together a mass of information that shows why the electoral reform community has missed the mark by ignoring the issue of ballot access and allowing politicians to continue to violate American citizen's freedom of speech at the ballot box.
Bennett says that we must break down these barriers to ballot access and replace them "with commonsense rules that permit the widest possible variety of candidates and parties to participate... [and] reduce the powers of the central government and the privileges and subsides it hands out."
It is a sad day when it is easier to get on the ballot in post-Soviet Moscow and post- Saddam Hussein Iraq than it is in many American states such as Oklahoma and North Carolina. Bennett quotes Economists Burton A. Abrams and Russell F. Settle who said "[free] markets and individual liberty have served the United States and its citizens well. Why adopt a non-market solution for running political campaigns?"
Competition is healthy for the state and good for its citizens. As Bennett advocates in Not Invited to the Parties, we need to restore competition to the ballot in all 50 American states and allow all American's to exercise their right to vote again.
Copyright © 2010 Jordon M. Greene. Jordon M. Greene is the President and Founder of the North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections PAC, member of the Constitution Party of North Carolina's State Executive Committee and Ballot Access Committee, Political Science student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and formerly served in 2008 as Campaign Manager for the Bryan Greene 2008 Congressional Campaign Committee.
Read this Review in its original context at [...]
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In author James T. Bennett's fine book,
"Not Invited to the Pary: How the Dema-
Publicans Have Left Independents out in
the Cold" [A book Lou Dobbs will probab-
ly be taliing about in huis next book!],
this 211 pager has two unique topics; it
lambasts ballot access restrictions and
benchmarks other industialized countries
free elections.
Last year Bennett, an Political / Public
Policy Economics Professor at Dr. Walt
Williams George Mason University, wrote
antoher very fine book entitled, "Stifl-
ing Political Competition. Both titles
correctly point a crooked finger at the
discriminatory campaign finance laws and
debate restrictions. This information is
very hard to find in recent printed books
on these subjects.
Also, Bennett has an intesting chapter tel-
ing the history of Third Party candidates
and surveys the attitudes of various well-
known U.S. pundits about laws that discrim-
nate v. third parties. In one chapter, Ben-
ett prints the only know to date chapter
on the Ron Paul Republican campaing that
came in second to eventual Rep. loser John
McCain and how he eventually chose to endor-
se Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin(over
Libertarian Bob Barr).
"Not Invited to the Pary: How the Dema-
Publicans Have Left Independents out in
the Cold" [A book Lou Dobbs will probab-
ly be taliing about in huis next book!],
this 211 pager has two unique topics; it
lambasts ballot access restrictions and
benchmarks other industialized countries
free elections.
Last year Bennett, an Political / Public
Policy Economics Professor at Dr. Walt
Williams George Mason University, wrote
antoher very fine book entitled, "Stifl-
ing Political Competition. Both titles
correctly point a crooked finger at the
discriminatory campaign finance laws and
debate restrictions. This information is
very hard to find in recent printed books
on these subjects.
Also, Bennett has an intesting chapter tel-
ing the history of Third Party candidates
and surveys the attitudes of various well-
known U.S. pundits about laws that discrim-
nate v. third parties. In one chapter, Ben-
ett prints the only know to date chapter
on the Ron Paul Republican campaing that
came in second to eventual Rep. loser John
McCain and how he eventually chose to endor-
se Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin(over
Libertarian Bob Barr).
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