Download Free Reclaiming The American Democratic Impulse Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Reclaiming The American Democratic Impulse and write the review.

Working class and middle class American citizens know that something has gone terribly wrong in the American society. They know that the U. S. government is not working on their behalf. Citizens have many unanswered questions about what is wrong, and not very clear ideas on how to fix the problems. Citizens want to know: - Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally? - How did prized natural gas that had granted America's wishes of energy self-sufficiency, reduced pollution, and inexpensive electricity become almost overnight a pariah fuel whose extraction was a war against nature? - Which lawmakers, which laws, which votes of the people declared natural gas development and pipelines near criminal? - Since when did Americans create a government Ministry of Truth? When did we assume the FBI had the right to subvert the campaign of a candidate it disliked? - When did the nation abruptly decide that theft is not a crime, assault not a felony? The root of the problems is that the centralized power of the Federal government became unthethered from the democratic consent of the governed. The agencies of government, and the agents of government, have become an independent power on their own, and citizens have no political mechanism to regain democratic authority over the government. We explain the history of how the centralized power of government originated in Madison's flawed constitution. Our solution for the problems is more democracy, not less. In other words we offer the strategy of Reclaiming the American Democratic Impulse.
In his recent book, The Liberty Amendments, Mark Levin promotes the enactment of 10 amendments to the U. S. Constitution, using the second method of amendment outlined in Article V of the Constitution of 1788. Levin offers no clues to how or why he thinks on the 1000th effort, this path of amendment would be successful.
When the United States was born in the revolutionary acts of 1776, Americans viewed the role of government as the protector of their individual rights. Thus, the fundamental principle underlying the new American government was liberty. Over time, the ideology of political "democracy"—the idea that the role of government is to carry out the "will of the people," as revealed through majority rule—has displaced the ethics of liberty. This displacement has eroded individual rights systematically and that history is examined in Liberty in Peril by Randall Holcombe in language accessible to anyone. The Founders intended to design a government that would preclude tyranny and protect those individual rights, and the Bill of Rights was a clear statement of those rights. They well understood that the most serious threat to human rights and liberty is government. So, the Constitution clearly outlined a limited scope for government and set forth a form of governance that would preserve individual rights. The federal government's activities during two world wars and the Great Depression greatly increased government's involvement in people's lives. By the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society," the depletion of rights and the growth of the activities of political democracy was complete. By the end of the 20th Century the fundamental principle underlying the U.S. government was now political power and not liberty. Public policy was oriented toward fulfilling the majority rule with the subsequent increase in government power and scope. Holcombe argues that economic and political systems are not separate entities but are intimately intertwined. The result is a set of tensions between democracy, liberty, a market economy, and the institutions of a free society. All those interested in the evolution of American government, including historians, political scientists, economists, and legal experts, will find this book compelling and informative.
Reclaiming Latin America is a one-stop guide to the revival of social democratic and socialist politics across the region. At the end of the Cold War, and through decades of neoliberal domination and the 'Washington Consensus' it seemed that the left could do nothing but beat a ragged retreat in Latin America. Yet this book looks at the new opportunities that sprang up through electoral politics and mass action during that period. The chapters here warn against over-simplification of the so-called 'pink wave'. Instead, through detailed historical analysis of Latin America as a whole and country-specific case studies, the book demonstrates the variety of approaches to establishing a lasting social justice. From the anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, to the more gradualist routes being taken in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Reclaiming Latin America gives a real sense of the plurality of political responses to popular discontent.
The George W. Bush administration’s ambitious—even breathtaking—claims of unilateral executive authority raised deep concerns among constitutional scholars, civil libertarians, and ordinary citizens alike. But Bush’s attempts to assert his power are only the culmination of a near-thirty-year assault on the basic checks and balances of the U.S. government—a battle waged by presidents of both parties, and one that, as Peter M. Shane warns in Madison’s Nightmare, threatens to utterly subvert the founders’ vision of representative government. Tracing this tendency back to the first Reagan administration, Shane shows how this era of "aggressive presidentialism" has seen presidents exerting ever more control over nearly every arena of policy, from military affairs and national security to domestic programs. Driven by political ambition and a growing culture of entitlement in the executive branch—and abetted by a complaisant Congress, riven by partisanship—this presidential aggrandizement has too often undermined wise policy making and led to shallow, ideological, and sometimes outright lawless decisions. The solution, Shane argues, will require a multipronged program of reform, including both specific changes in government practice and broader institutional changes aimed at supporting a renewed culture of government accountability. From the war on science to the mismanaged war on terror, Madison’s Nightmare outlines the disastrous consequences of the unchecked executive—and issues a stern wake-up call to all who care about the fate of our long democratic experiment.
Building on the wisdom and compassion that has won her millions of fans and followers, Williamson teaches readers the keys to bringing spiritual values into their own lives, into their communities, and into the country as a whole.
Why School? is a little book driven by big questions. What does it mean to be educated? What is intelligence? How should we think about intelligence, education, and opportunity in an open society? Drawing on forty years of teaching and research and "a profound understanding of the opportunities, both intellectual and economic, that come from education" (Booklist), award-winning author Mike Rose reflects on these and other questions related to public schooling in America. He answers them in beautifully written chapters that are both rich in detail and informed by an extensive knowledge of history, the psychology of learning, and the politics of education. This paperback edition includes three new chapters showing how cognitive science actually narrows our understanding of learning, how to increase college graduation rates, and how to value the teaching of basic skills. An updated introduction by Rose, who has been hailed as "a superb writer and an even better storyteller" (TLN Teachers Network), reflects on recent developments in school reform. Lauded as "a beautifully written work of literary nonfiction" (The Christian Science Monitor) and called "stunning" by the New Educator Journal, Why School? offers an eloquent call for a bountiful democratic vision of the purpose of schooling.
The Revolutionary Constitution examines how the Constitution has served as a dynamic and contested framework for legitimating power and advancing liberty in which our past concerns and experiences influence our present understanding. Informed by the latest scholarship, the book is an interpretive synthesis linking constitutional history with American political and social history.
"The freedoms established by the Bill of Rights are celebrated as a part of America's national identity. But are they everything? Do freedoms from government persecution offer enough to live the American Dream? In Freedom Is Not Enough, economist Mark Paul considers the history of American rights and freedoms as determinants of American economic well-being. The failed promise of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society programs to secure positive rights for all Americans-the right to a decent education, a good job, adequate health care, and a greater capacity for economic flourishing-have left the country fractured by inequality and stifled in social mobility. Paul traces this shift not only to the unrealized promise of the twentieth-century reforms, but to the simultaneous rise of neoliberalism-the conflation of freedom and markets, the vilification of government intervention in public life-as a persisting source of American injustice. Building on the history of this trend, he offers policy prescriptions to reinvigorate American equality and mobility, including economic prescriptions for the most American question of all: how do you pay for it? A trenchant and deeply researched synthesis of economics, history, and public policy, Freedom Is Not Enough is a new case for one of America's founding promises. It promises to serve as a blueprint for positive change in a challenging time"--