Download or read book The Centrist Solution written by Joseph I. Lieberman and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The four-term senator shares behind-the-scenes stories illustrating the lost art of aisle-crossing—and how to make American democracy function again. Senator Joseph Lieberman offers a master class in effective government by revealing events from his forty years in elective office—which spanned from the Vietnam War era to the Obama presidency—and shining a light on historic acts of centrism and compromise. He was an up-close witness to a not-so-distant era when Republicans and Democrats worked together (and even became friends), and problems actually got solved. Today we need these examples more than ever. Having two fiercely opposed political parties is what John Adams dreaded “as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” If American government is to work, it must do so in the center—where open discussion, hard negotiation, and effective compromise take place. In this vivid account of his political life, Lieberman shows how legislative progress and all-inclusive government occurs when politicians reject extremism and put country before party. The Centrist Solution shines a light on ten milestones of centrist success during his time in government—from the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the repeal of the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy—as well as his vice presidential run alongside candidate Al Gore, and his experience being vetted by John McCain to be his potential running mate on the 2008 Republican ticket. In the telling, Lieberman extracts clear lessons and proven methods of collaboration that can carry us forward after years of partisan warfare and legislative inaction. The centrist solution leads to government truly of the people, by the people, and for the people—a citizenry looking for solutions, not destructive extremist standoffs. “Reprising successes and failures, he ends each chapter with ‘Lessons for Centrists.’ . . . A heartfelt plea to legislators and the constituents who elect them.” —Kirkus Reviews “The wisdom offered in this magnificently timed book serves as a reminder of history’s powerful examples of bipartisanship, almost completely forgotten in today’s environment of ever-changing party dogma and misplaced priorities.” —Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah (R) and US Ambassador

Download or read book The Centrist Manifesto written by Charles Wheelan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-04-19 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vision—and detailed road map to power—for a new party that will champion America’s rational center. From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America’s political system has never been more polarized—or paralyzed—than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urgent issues for our nation. Wheelan—who not only lectures on public policy but practices it as well (he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2009)—brings even more than his usual wit and clarity of vision to The Centrist Manifesto. He outlines a realistic ground game that could net at least five Centrist senators from New England, the Midwest, and elsewhere. With the power to deny a red or blue Senate majority, committed Centrists could take the first step toward giving voice and power to America’s largest, and most rational, voting bloc: the center.

Download or read book Fighting for Common Ground written by Olympia Snowe and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An outspoken centrist, Senator Snowe stunned Washington in February 2012 when she announced she would not seek a fourth term and offered a sharp rebuke to the Senate, citing the dispiriting gridlock and polarization. After serving in the legislative branch at the state and federal levels for 40 years, including 18 years in the U.S. Senate, she explained that Washington wasn’t solving the big problems anymore.In this timely call to action, she explores the roots of her belief in principled policy-making and bipartisan compromise. A leading moderate with a reputation for crossing the aisle, Senator Snowe will propose solutions for bridging the partisan divide in Washington, most notably through a citizens’ movement to hold elected officials accountable. Senator Snowe recounts how the tragedies and triumphs of her personal story helped shape her political approach. Born in Augusta, Maine, Senator Snowe was orphaned at nine, and raised by an aunt and uncle. When she was twenty-six, her husband, a Maine state representative, was killed in an auto accident. Already dedicated to public service, she ran for and won her husband’s seat.The book will include anecdotes from throughout her career, and address her working relationships with Presidents Reagan through Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, Majority Leader Bob Dole, and many others. As a senior member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, the high-profile Commerce and Intelligence Committees, and the Senate Small Business Committee, Senator Snowe has been directly involved with the most talked-about legislative challenges of recent decades: the country’s response to 9/11; the 2008 financial crisis; the Affordable Healthcare Act; the debt ceiling debacle, and much more.Her new book will draw on the lessons she's learned as a policymaker, and the frustration she shares with the American people about the government’s dwindling productivity. Senator Snowe passionately argues that the government has now lost its way, shows how this happened, and proposes ways for the world’s greatest deliberative body to, once again, fulfill its mission.

Download or read book Confluence Point written by Ralph Nwobi and published by Outskirts Press. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confluence Point is a book that offers middle-of-the-road solutions to the problems that have bothered the United States for a long time. In the book, the author identifies the gridlock that is present in our political system and government, due to constant disagreement on the perspectives and solutions offered by the two parties. He opines that most of these seemingly insurmountable problems can be addressed, if elected officials and politicians from both sides of the aisle come together to negotiate and deal with each other, despite their partisan and ideological differences. The author believes that such meeting of the minds, in the absence of blatant mendacity and distortion of facts, is the panacea for solving the country's problems and accomplishing great things in our government. It will restore America as an enduring democracy and the last best hope for man, on earth.

Download or read book To Save Everything Click Here written by Evgeny Morozov and published by . This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The award-winning author of The Net Delusion shows how the radical transparency we've become accustomed to online may threaten the spirit of real-life democracy

Download or read book Solutions to Political Polarization in America written by Nathaniel Persily and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-27 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political polarization dominates discussions of contemporary American politics. Despite widespread agreement that the dysfunction in the political system can be attributed to political polarization, commentators cannot come to a consensus on what that means. The coarseness of our political discourse, the ideological distance between opposing partisans, and, most of all, an inability to pass much-needed and widely supported policies all stem from the polarization in our politics. This volume assembles several top analysts of American politics to focus on solutions to polarization. The proposals range from constitutional change to good-government reforms to measures to strengthen political parties. Each tackles one or more aspects of America's polarization problem. This book begins a serious dialogue about reform proposals to address the obstacles that polarization poses for contemporary governance.

Download or read book It s Even Worse Than It Looks written by Thomas E. Mann and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hyperpartisanship is as old as American democracy. But now, acrimony is not confined to a moment; it's a permanent state of affairs and has seeped into every part of the political process. Identifying the overriding problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional collapse, It's Even Worse Than It Looks profoundly altered the debate about why America's government has become so dysfunctional. Through a new preface and afterword, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein bring the story forward, examining the 2012 presidential campaign and exploring the prospects of a less dysfunctional government. As provocative and controversial as ever, It's Even Worse Than It Looks will continue to set the terms of our political debate in the years to come.

Download or read book Supply Side Follies written by Robert Atkinson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007-10-29 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supply-Side Follies methodically debunks the common assumptions of conservative economics and demonstrates why it is a 'flawed doctrine' that is setting up the U.S. for a major economic downturn in the near future.

Download or read book America We Need to Talk written by Joel Berg and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The newest book by Joel Berg--an internationally recognized leader and media spokesman in the fields of hunger, poverty, food systems, and U.S. politics, and the director of Hunger Free America--America We Need to Talk: A Self-Help Book for the Nation is both a parody of relationship and self-help books and a serious analysis of the nation's political and economic dysfunction. Explaining that the most serious--and most broken--relationship is the one between us, as Americans, and our nation, the book explains how, no matter who becomes our next president, average Joes can channel their anger at our hobbled system into concrete actions that will fix our democracy, rebuild our middle class, and restore our stature in the world as a beacon of freedom and hope. Starting with the belief that it's irresponsible for Americans to blame the nation's problems solely on "the politicians" or "the system," Joel makes a case for how it's the personal responsibility of every resident of this country to fix it. The American people are in a relationship with their government and their society, and, as in all relationships, it's the responsibility of both sides to recognize and repair their problems.

Download or read book Dead Center written by Jason Altmire and published by Sunbury Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2017 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fast-paced and easily-readable, Dead Center moves beyond the tired rhetoric that so often dominates our political discourse. Altmire draws upon his first-hand experience in the corridors of power to evaluate the root causes of polarization and offer novel solutions to break the gridlock and restore to Washington a spirit of cooperation.

Download or read book Tailspin written by Steven Brill and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this revelatory narrative covering the years 1967 to 2017, Steven Brill gives us a stunningly cogent picture of the broken system at the heart of our society. He shows us how, over the last half century, America’s core values—meritocracy, innovation, due process, free speech, and even democracy itself—have somehow managed to power its decline into dysfunction. They have isolated our best and brightest, whose positions at the top have never been more secure or more remote. The result has been an erosion of responsibility and accountability, an epidemic of shortsightedness, an increasingly hollow economic and political center, and millions of Americans gripped by apathy and hopelessness. By examining the people and forces behind the rise of big-money lobbying, legal and financial engineering, the demise of private-sector unions, and a hamstrung bureaucracy, Brill answers the question on everyone’s mind: How did we end up this way? Finally, he introduces us to those working quietly and effectively to repair the damages. At once a diagnosis of our national ills, a history of their development, and a prescription for a brighter future, Tailspin is a work of riveting journalism—and a welcome antidote to political despair.

Download or read book Independent Nation written by John Avlon and published by Crown. This book was released on 2004-02-24 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty percent of American voters define themselves as political moderates, two-thirds favor political solutions that come from the center of the political spectrum, and Independents outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each explicitly used Centrist strategies to win the White House—and twenty-first-century candidates will be compelled to do the same. Independent Nation documents the rich history of the defining political movement of our time. Organized as a series of short and colorful political biographies, it offers an insightful and engaging analysis of the successes and failures of key Centrist leaders throughout the twentieth century. In the process, it demonstrates that Centrism is not only a winning political strategy but an enlightened governing philosophy that best reflects the will of the people by putting patriotism ahead of partisanship and the national interest ahead of special interests.

Download or read book The Politics Industry written by Katherine M. Gehl and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Download or read book Thinking Points written by George Lakoff and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Left Turn written by Tim Groseclose and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2011-07-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading political science professor provides scientific proof of media bias in this sure-to-be-controversial book Dr. Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science and economics at UCLA, has spent years constructing precise, quantitative measures of the slant of media outlets. He does this by measuring the political content of news, as a way to measure the PQ, or "political quotient" of voters and politicians. Among his conclusions are: (i) all mainstream media outlets have a liberal bias; and (ii) while some supposedly conservative outlets—such the Washington Times or Fox News' Special Report—do lean right, their conservative bias is less than the liberal bias of most mainstream outlets. Groseclose contends that the general leftward bias of the media has shifted the PQ of the average American by about 20 points, on a scale of 100, the difference between the current political views of the average American, and the political views of the average resident of Orange County, California or Salt Lake County, Utah. With Left Turn readers can easily calculate their own PQ—to decide for themselves if the bias exists. This timely, much-needed study brings fact to this often overheated debate.

Download or read book Lincoln and the Fight for Peace written by John Avlon and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking, revelatory history of Abraham Lincoln's plan to secure a just and lasting peace after the Civil War-a vision that inspired future presidents as well as the world's most famous peacemakers, including Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a story of war and peace, race and reconciliation

Download or read book Death of the Senate written by Ben Nelson and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-09 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Something is rotten in the U.S. Senate, and the disease has been spreading for some time. But Ben Nelson, former U.S. senator from Nebraska, is not going to let the institution destroy itself without a fight. Death of the Senate is a clear-eyed look inside the Senate chamber and a brutally honest account of the current political reality. In his two terms as a Democratic senator from the red state of Nebraska, Nelson positioned himself as a moderate broker between his more liberal and conservative colleagues and became a frontline player in the most consequential fights of the Bush and Obama years. His trusted centrist position gave him a unique perch from which to participate in some of the last great rounds of bipartisan cooperation, such as the "Gang of 14" that considered nominees for the federal bench--and passed over a young lawyer named Brett Kavanaugh for being too partisan. Nelson learned early on that the key to any negotiation at any level is genuine trust. With humor, insight, and firsthand details, Nelson makes the case that the "heart of the deal" is critical and describes how he focused on this during his time in the Senate. As seen through the eyes of a centrist senator from the Great Plains, Nelson shows how and why the spirit of bipartisanship declined and offers solutions that can restore the Senate to one of the world's most important legislative bodies.