The essence of political democracy -- the franchise -- has eroded, as face-to face politics give way to campaign finance plutocracy...[T]here is a direct connection between the domination of politics by special interest money, paid attack ads, strategies driven by polling and focus groups -- and the desertion of citizens.
...People conclude that politics is something that excludes them.
-Robert Kuttner
So far, yeah, I totally agree. But I haven't gotten to the prescriptive part yet...
1 comment:
Take a deep breath and try not to get too agitated. I found the book maddening, to say the least... and about as much fun as shaving my head with a cheese grater. It's full of illogical and contradictory arguments, mangled terms, cultural prejudice, and a whole lot of other weaknesses. It’s also pretty scary when you really think about what he is arguing for. Like a lot of cloistered academics, he’s hermetically sealed inside his own thinking and theories, and totally unhinged from the real world... past and present. I won’t recap the whole list of objections here... but it’s on my site. (literalmayhem.com)
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