Finished Reading Winner-Take-All Politics

Some may find as much relief in my finishing and writing about this book as I am.

Hacker and Pierson’s basic claim that politics has degenerated into a winner-take-all game is basically true. We have gridlock on steroids. As to a solution, I can’t see that they offer much of one. Money dominates politics and I don’t see that changing soon with a deluded and an apathetic voter populace. Yeah, I woke up grumpy.

They point out the in the sequence of Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich, G. W. Bush (they could have started with Eisenhower); each GOP leader has been more conservative than the one preceding him. I think we can say much the same for the Democratic Party. They believe our electoral failure is based on economic failures (deregulation), nor do we have the will to adequately handle health care realistically in this country. While our current health care plan is an improvement it is a long way from being as helpful to the country as it should be.

Even when Democrats have the majority filibuster and catering to the business interests (their political contributions) of the country any progressive ideas they offer get watered down. Thus the last 30 years has seen the winner-take-all thinking dominate no matter who is in office.

This is a far cry from the ideas of the founding fathers who lacked crystal balls to see how our country would develop. They had a vision of checks and balances that is currently crippled, perhaps best seen in the Citizens United court decision.

The authors cite the Federalist Papers at the end of their book highlighting Hamilton’s #22 and Madison’s #55 dealing with economics and representatives issues respectively. Currently it seems as minorities rule the day due to economic clout and a government that supports Richistan.

So, how do we get rid of the filibuster, lobbyists, and moneyed politics? How can the middle class and labor unions regain a voice in government?

The authors quote the Roosevelts at the end of their book: FDR political equality is “meaningless in the face of economic inequality.” And, Teddy “The supreme political task of our day…is to drive the special interests out of our public life.” They seem far more successful than we.

It has been a good if frustrating read. I’m now on to Lesterland: The Corruption of Congress and How to End It of TED books by Lawrence Lessig; an inexpensive ebook. Stay tuned.