A provocative exploration about the architecture of power, the forces that stifle us from getting things done, and how we can restore confidence in democratically elected government.
28th April 2025
Hardcover
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
A provocative exploration about the architecture of power, the forces that stifle us from getting things done, and how we can restore confidence in democratically elected government.
Description
A provocative exploration about the architecture of power, the forces that stifle us from getting things done, and how we can restore confidence in democratically elected government.
America was once a country that could do big things - building the world's greatest rail network, a vast electrical grid, interstate highways, abundant housing, Social Security, NASA, and more. But today, on issues that touch us each and every day, from housing to clean energy to high-speed rail, we feel stuck, unable to move the needle, ruled by a vetocracy that uses its power to stifle progress. Marc Dunkelman's provocative analysis of the architecture and use of power investigates how we moved from a can-do culture to one in which new red tape is added to a world already hampered by it-and how we can find our way back. While Progressives blame the right, it's actually Progressive reforms that curtail anyone who wields power - from bureaucrats and politicians to financiers, and corporate executives - from getting things done. Guardrails placed around power brokers so that they don't interfere with our individual autonomy or oppress us with its coercive authority have worked all too well - so well that government has been rendered incompetent, stifling the very tool needed to fight for justice and equality. As Americans confront massive crises like climate change, rising healthcare costs, crumbling infrastructure, and failing schools, Americans need quick and decisive action. In this book Dunkelman shows how progressives can rediscover their roots, end gridlock, and do the crucial work of serving the people.About the Author
Marc J. Dunkelman is a fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. His work at Brown focuses on the architecture of American community and the progressive movement's evolving view of power. He is the author of The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community, of which former President Bill Clinton said, "Marc Dunkelman gets it. In The Vanishing Neighbor, he shows how the traditional web of relationships that makes up American life is undergoing fundamental change, why it matters, and what we need to do about it".
During more than a dozen years working in Washington, Dunkelman served as a senior fellow at the Clinton Foundation, on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as legislative director and chief of staff to a member of the House of Representatives, and as the vice president for strategy and communications at the Democratic Leadership Council. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Daily Beast, and National Affairs, among other publications.Product Details
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28th April 2025
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