Breaking Big Money's Grip on America: Working Together to Revive Our Democracy

Bruce Berlin

ISBN 10: 0996623205 / ISBN 13: 9780996623209

Published by Our Time Books, 2016

Pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0996623205I2N00

Synopsis:

A wake-up call to the people of the United States. The book addresses the problem of the broken political system caused by the dominance of Big Money and corporate America, and examines what the American people can do to build a government that works for everyone. It makes the case for why a mass movement involving a broad alliance of people and civic organizations from across the political spectrum is urgently needed to save the United States from becoming a plutocracy, a country run by and for the benefit of the very wealthy.

About the Author: A public sector attorney and social change activist, Bruce Berlin has devoted himself to social justice issues for over forty-five years. Education, Training and Early Career Berlin earned his AB in government from Cornell University in 1967, and his JD from New York University in 1970. Following graduation from law school, he began his legal career assisting low-income clients at the Legal Aid Society in Trenton, New Jersey. A few years later he moved to Massachusetts and continued his poverty law practice with Western Massachusetts Legal Services. Before settling in Massachusetts, Berlin traveled overseas for a year. He went overland from Europe through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to India. In Nepal, he studied Buddhism and practiced meditation under Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan, a Tibetan monastery. Some years later he became a student of Zen meditation under Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Berlin is currently certified in Negotiation and Mediation by the National Center for Collaborative Planning and Community Services, and in Economic Development by the New Mexico Community Economic Development Leadership Institute. Public Policy and Conflict Resolution Experience Berlin is the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution, a nonprofit organization that brought together policymakers from a wide spectrum of political perspectives, professors of government and politics, NGO organizers, and concerned citizens to develop broad-based, bipartisan approaches to a variety of policy issues from national security in the nuclear age to economic development and diversification. While directing The Trinity Forum for over eight years, Berlin was awarded a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace in 1988. As a Peace Fellow, he studied the Nicaraguan conflict and produced a dialogue at the Armand Hammer United World College, which brought together high-level representatives of the Sandinista government and the Contras resistance movement, as well as US ambassadors to Central America, to explore paths to a Nicaraguan peace agreement. In the early 1980s, as a co-founder and state coordinator of the New Mexico Nuclear Freeze Campaign, Berlin directed a successful statewide effort lobbying the New Mexico legislature for the passage of a resolution in support of a US-Soviet freeze on the development and deployment of nuclear weapons.Government Service and Political Campaigns During his career, Berlin has been involved in a number of local, state, and national political campaigns. In 1976, he helped direct a grassroots campaign for sheriff in Franklin County, Massachusetts. He also has volunteered in several Congressional and presidential campaigns. Beginning in 1996, Berlin served as an administrative hearing officer for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department for almost nine years. Prior to his retirement from practicing law in the fall of 2012, he spent eight years as a senior attorney with the New Mexico Public Education Department, where he brought disciplinary charges against educators for violations of the department’s Code of Ethics.Formerly married, Berlin has a daughter, Gioia, who is studying in Asia at the Global Studies Program of Long Island University. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where, since 1981, he has worked on nonpartisan efforts to revive democracy in America, promote peace in the Middle East, and diversify Los Alamos National Laboratory, among other issues. This is his first book.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Breaking Big Money's Grip on America: ...
Publisher: Our Time Books
Publication Date: 2016
Binding: Paperback
Condition: As New
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket