The Politics of American Discontent: How a New Party Can Make Democracy Work Again (Hardcover)

by Gordon S. Black (Author), Benjamin D. Black (Author) "The election of 1992 was allegedly about change..." (more)
Key Phrases: new center party, new reform party, congressional challengers, Ross Perot, United States, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
The tide of public opinion has been rising against politics for a number of years, perhaps cresting with Ross Perot's candidacy. The authors, both professional pollsters (Gordon Black conducted polls for Perot), here contend that "the virtual elimination of electoral competition by incumbents is the single most important underlying cause of most of what troubles Americans today about politics." The authors cite common indicators of the decline of American democracy: the rise in the length of congressional tenure; the increase in the number of safe seats in Congress; the perks enjoyed by incumbents; and the declining number of voters participating in elections. They argue that only a new third party can remove the entrenched power structures and reform democracy. Unfortunately, their definition of democracy is extremely narrow and leads them to numerous flawed interpretations of the data they present. For a more balanced and insightful analysis, E.J. Dionne's Why Americans Hate Politics (LJ 4/15/91) is a much better choice.
Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Blacks, father and son, are two pollsters flummoxed by the inability of a third party to establish itself. Stymied by the electorate's palpable exasperation with the two main parties, they recap in reams of tables and graphs the familiar horror stories about the incumbents' self-protection scams, which build up their 90 percent reelection rates with 70 percent of the votes. Competition is dead, the Blacks are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. They here present a quasi platform for a Center party akin to the nationalistic party de Gaulle created, the Rassemblement du Peuple Fran{‡}cais. The American version's central plank would be vigilant fiscal conservatism that resists the phalanx of forces--such as subsidized industries and government employee unions--which yelp when higher spending is endangered. Ranking high on the Blacks' fix-it list is rejuvenating tools dormant since the progressive era, such as referenda for term limits, which they hope can rev up the discontented middle class. An emphasis on opinion polls and a suggested course of action distinguish this book from such popular diagnoses as Kevin Phillips' Boiling Point. Gilbert Taylor

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 262 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471598534
• ISBN-13: 978-0471598534
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,772,631 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)