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Books

(Sorted by publication date in reverse order.)

The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi 2008, Spiegel & Grau Matt Taibbi is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine. The two “Congressional Interlude” chapters are particularly relevant.		Excerpt: “After spending a great deal of time on the Hill, I began to develop a theory about American politics as a kind of closed loop of inside players, an oligarchy of commercial interests who ran Washington in conjunction with their hired hands in Congress as a closed shop. “The lawmaking process had evolved over time in such a way that almost all of the important decisions could be made behind closed doors by a few key players in both houses, without debate or discussion and certainly without any real input from the voting public. I was amazed to see that Congress spent most of its daylight hours naming post offices and passing resolutions to honor sports teams, while the important stuff [was done] in late-night meetings of mostly anonymous committees, out of the (at least potentially) prying eye of the press and the public.”

The Broken Branch by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein 2006, Oxford University Press This book offers an insightful diagnosis of the cause of Congressional decline. Their analysis focuses on the transformation of Congress from a highly-decentralized committee-based institution into a much more centralized one in which party increasingly trumps committee.		Excerpt: “Unified party government threatens to sap the [House of Representatives] of any will to exercise its constitutional independence. … “In recent years a number of factors — the two parties at parity and ideologically polarized, ... a more partisan press and interest group alignment, and an electoral environment making legislative activity subordinate to the interests of the permanent campaign — have conspired to encourage a decline in congressional deliberation and a de facto delegation of authority and influence to the president. … “The country and its enduring constitutional pact should not, and cannot, endure a broken branch for long ”

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki 2005, Anchor (Random House) This book shows how large groups of people, in the aggregate, are smarter than an elite few.		Excerpt: “One knee-jerk reaction to the evidence of democracy’s failings is to insist that we would be better off ruled by a technocratic elite, which would make decisions with dispassion and attention to the public interest. To some extent, of course, we already are ruled by a technocratic elite, what with our republican form of government and the importance of unelected officials... But one would be hard-pressed to argue that most elites are able to see past their ideological blinders and uncover the imaginary public interest. And trusting an insulated, unelected elite to make the right decisions is a foolish strategy, given all we now know about small-group dynamics, groupthink, and the failure of diversity. “Elites are just as partisan and no more devoted to the public interest than the average voter. More important, as you shrink the size of a decision-making body, you also shrink the likelihood that the final answer is right. Finally, most political decisions are not simply decisions about how to do something. They are decisions about what to do, decisions that involve values, trade-offs, and choices about what kind of society people should live in. There is no reason to think that experts are better at making these decisions than the average voter. Thomas Jefferson, for one, thought it likely that they might be worse. ‘State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor,’ he wrote. ‘The former will decide it as well and often better than the latter because he has not been led astray by artificial rules.’ ”

Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders by Tom A. Coburn, M.D. 2003, WND Books Tom Coburn served in Congress from 1994 to 2000. He was one of 73 Republicans who was elected to Congress as part of Newt Gingrich’s Contract-with-America “revolution”.		Excerpt: “In Washington, I learned that rigid partisanship usually signals a deeper faith in careerism than in conservatism or liberalism. Partisanship relies more on the power of intimidation than the power of ideas to persuade and unify the team. It’s a truism in Washington that when a person is elected to Congress and wants to succeed all they have to do is become a rabidly partisan Republican or Democrat — someone has already made of your decisions for you and will take care of your political needs as long as you serve the team. “What makes this mentality dangerous is that when the team is held together by careerism and mindless partisanship, individual members are punished for thinking for themselves. When members can’t think for themselves their constituents are deprived of honest representation.”

Hill Rat: Blowing the Lid Off Congress by John L. Jackley 1992, Regnery Publishing, Inc. This book details the author's extensive Capitol Hill career experience from 1978 to 1990, most of which was spent working for various Congressmen. Though many of the references may seem dated, the underlying failures he identifies are as relevant today as ever.		Excerpt: “Congressmen exist in a moral free-fire zone, devoid of commonly excepted definitions of right and wrong. They manage issues. They do not stand for principles, and they will certainly not lose their seats over them. “The Founding Fathers assumed a certain amount of self interest when they constructed the legislative system. But in the House today, self interest is the system. Constitutional checks and balances no longer have meaning; the only checks that count are the ones you can cash. … “[The House is] the refinement to a high art form of the use of public resources for reelection purposes. In 1987 alone, we produced 595 million pieces of unsolicited newsletters, postcards and letters. It worked. In 1988, only six of 408 members running for reelection were defeated, a turnover rate less than that of the Soviet Politburo. “[The House is] the perks and privileges to the tune of $2,044,288 per member per year, making the House the world’s most expensive legislative body. “[The House is] the cult of the incumbent, a place where members no longer worked to make the laws but to stay—literally.”

“Don't Know Much About History” Last year, the Education Department's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that less than a quarter of grade-school students are proficient in civics and American history, the subjects meant to prepare them to be responsible citizens.
David Feith, The Wall Street Journal , Sep. 5, 2008.

“The Rise of the Political Donor Class” As congressional elections become more and more expensive, a handful of wealthy ZIP codes are increasingly picking up the tab.
Lee Drutman, Miller-McCune, August 26, 2008.

“The Minority Legislative Gap” Despite increasing representation in the U.S. Congress, minority representatives still lag behind their white colleagues in legislative activity — and minority-majority districts set up to increase their power may contribute to the lag.
Lee Drutman, Miller-McCune, April 16, 2008.

Porked: Earmarks for Profit
Hosted by Chris Wallace
Fox News Network; broadcast: June 8, 2008
Broadcaster's description: “Congressional 'earmarks' have become a national scandal – and a national joke: Lawmakers wasting tax dollars on their pet projects, and costing Americans up to $60 billion a year. But this exclusive investigation uncovers more than waste. FOX News exposes lawmakers who spent millions of dollars of your money on projects that fattened their personal bank accounts.” (Hulu.com)

What is the difference between a republic, a democracy and an oligarchy? Watch this video.