Democracy in America?: What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It (Emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith) - Softcover

Page, Benjamin I.; Gilens, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022672493X ISBN 13: 9780226724935

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2020

Synopsis

America faces daunting problems—stagnant wages, high health care costs, neglected schools, deteriorating public services. How did we get here? Through decades of dysfunctional government. In Democracy in America? veteran political observers Benjamin I. Page and Martin Gilens marshal an unprecedented array of evidence to show that while other countries have responded to a rapidly changing economy by helping people who’ve been left behind, the United States has failed to do so. Instead, we have actually exacerbated inequality, enriching corporations and the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves.

What’s the solution? More democracy. More opportunities for citizens to shape what their government does. To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans.

Updated with new information, this book lays out a set of proposals that would boost citizen participation, curb the power of money, and democratize the House and Senate.

About this title

About the Author

Benjamin I. Page is the Gordon Scott Fulcher Professor of Decision Making at Northwestern University. Martin Gilens is professor of public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022672493X
• ISBN 13: 9780226724935
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 399