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The authors spend most of their pages setting the stage, explaining why Congress as an institution is polling at record lows and what got us to this point. They then introduce a noble wishlist of policy recommendations that will hopefully prompt legislators and voters alike to be civic-minded and "play nice." But if the past several years of Washington gridlock have taught us anything, it's that gamesmanship reigns supreme on the Hill. Barring a push by the public to rewrite the rules, changes to divisive policies like the filibuster will themselves get bartered and bargained in the same closed-door negotiations that got us here in the first place.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Some good insights but I didn’t realize this was published in 2012 :/
I'm sure like a lot of my like minded progressive/liberal friends, you have been in a deep funk since the Tweeter in President has taken office. Take heed; don't read this book because it's really depressing and yes it really is worse than it was. Our country has definitely changed and not for the better, the loonies have taken over and they're going to be around for a long time. Selfish, mean spirited, arrogant, bigoted, mostly white, and wanting something they can never have...the good old days! Mann and Ornstein give a fair handed assessment of why our political system no longer works, what bromides to avoid and what solutions may alleviate the lack of civility in our current political environment. But none of it is easy and since this book was written before Trump took office I suspect their assessment would be even more pessimistic now. All I can is thank god for Headspace! It's keeping me afloat! I'm now increasing to two meditation sessions a day!
For a review of politics in 2012, I find the primary arguments and even solutions to still be staggeringly prescient today, if not moreso. I couldn't recommend this enough.
not the worse university read i had to do. a bit biased but still not sure how.
A very breezy overview of American political inaction which (thankfully) gets rid of the "truth is in the middle" perspective and calls out Republicans for their incredible obstructionism in recent years.
Unfortunately, its breeziness gets in the way of much profundity. The book will throw out a reference and say, "oh Democrats did this too but to a lesser extent" and doesn't really dwell on the differences or the motivations behind the different examples. It also assumes a deep knowledge of American politics, for example throwing in a reference to the Bork confirmation with no context.
The proposed solutions to overcoming obstructionism are interesting, especially Senate rule reformations, but it's hard to see them being implemented since the current state of affairs has so obviously benefited the GOP.
The book serves its purpose as a brief intro and flyover of the quagmire of American politics. But despite its upbeat tone at trying to change things, the control that the party that least wants to govern now exerts on the American republic makes its pronouncements, only a few years old, even more depressing.
Unfortunately, its breeziness gets in the way of much profundity. The book will throw out a reference and say, "oh Democrats did this too but to a lesser extent" and doesn't really dwell on the differences or the motivations behind the different examples. It also assumes a deep knowledge of American politics, for example throwing in a reference to the Bork confirmation with no context.
The proposed solutions to overcoming obstructionism are interesting, especially Senate rule reformations, but it's hard to see them being implemented since the current state of affairs has so obviously benefited the GOP.
The book serves its purpose as a brief intro and flyover of the quagmire of American politics. But despite its upbeat tone at trying to change things, the control that the party that least wants to govern now exerts on the American republic makes its pronouncements, only a few years old, even more depressing.
informative
medium-paced
reading this as part of thinking about the institutional design of elections, the senate, the media, and how that ties in to the creation of how our politics operate today. this book isn’t perfect (I actually pretty strongly disagree with some of the underlying assumptions that guide this argument) but I think the idea of asymmetric polarization is really important to following and discussing contemporary American politics and provides a much more thoughtful material analysis of the actual actions of both political parties than a lot of other academic literature i was exposed to on this topic. So much of other polarization readings I did in school play right into the “both sides” nonsense that’s pervasive across so many parts of our society and I feel like this book did a better job of countering that and also discussing structures and institutions. I appreciated the discussion of the filibuster and other senate institutions (having read Confirmation Bias earlier this year, that stuff was on the brain). Anyways, no great complete thoughts on everything but glad I took the time to read this whole book and not just the excerpt I was assigned in college.
“Both sides in politics are no more necessarily equally responsible than a hit-and-run driver and a victim; reporters don’t treat them as equivalent and neither should they reflexively treat the parties that way.... What’s the real story? Who’s telling the truth? Who is taking hostages at what risks and to what ends?”.
“Both sides in politics are no more necessarily equally responsible than a hit-and-run driver and a victim; reporters don’t treat them as equivalent and neither should they reflexively treat the parties that way.... What’s the real story? Who’s telling the truth? Who is taking hostages at what risks and to what ends?”.