Reaganism & the death of representative democracy / Walter Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Walter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Politics and government--1945-1989.

United States.

Politics and government.

United States--Politics and government--1989-.

Physical Description:

v, 306 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Reaganism and the death of representative democracy

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press, 2003.

Summary:

This is a reasoned but passionate argument that Reaganism -- the political philosophy of Ronald Reagan -- is threatening to destroy representative democracy as created by the nation's founders. Walter Williams shows how Reagan and his foremost disciple George W. Bush have created a plutocracy where the United States is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but is ruled by the wealthiest individuals and corporate America. Williams urges Americans to move from political apathy and draw aside the power curtain to see the politicians and the corporations lurking there -- and to see the dangers they represent to the American way of life. Williams's most important contribution is his extended analysis of the central role the key institutions -- the presidency, Congress, the federal agencies -- must play for the U.S. government to be capable of sustaining representative democracy and protecting the safety and economic security of the American people. He points out the results of weakened government institutions in the grossly inadequate homeland security effort following September 11, and the massive corporate fraud of Enron and other large firms that robbed the nation and individuals of billions of dollars. Williams traces the initial destructive blow to Ronald Reagan and his antigovernment philosophy that fostered rapacious business practices and personal greed. The book also takes the media to task, criticizing their failure to investigate the political and corporate chicanery that has brought us to this pass. Keenly argued and thoroughly documented, Walter Williams has written a stinging wake-up call to the dangers of the demise of representative democracy and the rise of plutocracy that U.S. citizens can ignore only at their peril.

Contents:

A radical transformation

Analyzing federal governance

Reagan and Reaganism

Governing in the American republic

The Presidency and Congress in decline

Why federal agency management matters

The media : linking the politicians and the people

The will of the people

The costs of federal government inefficiency

American democracy today.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-284) and index.

ISBN:

0878401474

OCLC:

51977821