Is the cure for the ills of democracy more democracy? Is it possible to have too much democracy in a well-functioning government? What should an electoral democracy ideally look like? In this critical examination of the state of electoral democracy in the United States, Matthew Streb provides an analysis of the major debates that rage among scholars and reformers on subjects as diverse as the number of elections we hold, the use of nonpartisan elections, and the presidential primary process. Ultimately, Streb makes an argument for a less burdensome democracy, a democracy in which citizens can participate more easily. Written in a clear and engaging style, this book is designed to get students to think critically about what it means to be democratic and how democratic the United States really is.

Product Description: Common sense has always been a cornerstone of American politics. In 1776, Tom Paine’s vital pamphlet with that title sparked the American Revolution. And today, common sense—the wisdom of ordinary people, knowledge so self-evident that it is beyond debate—remains a powerful political ideal, utilized alike by George W...read more

Product Description: In 1973, Wilson Carey McWilliams (1933–2005) published The Idea of Fraternity in America, a groundbreaking book that argued for an alternative to America's dominant philosophy of liberalism. This alternative tradition emphasized that community and fraternal bonds were as vital to the process of maintaining political liberty as was individual liberty...read more

One of the highest-rated public affairs programs on public television, Bill Moyers Journal drew up to two million weekly viewers from 2007 to 2010. Through incisive, morally engaging conversations with some of the leading political figures, writers, activists, poets, and scholars at work today, the Journal captured the essence of the past three pivotal years in American life and politics, including the final act of the Bush Administration and the early years of Obama.Now, Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues brings this groundbreaking work to the page. From Michael Pollan, David Simon, and Jane Goodall to John Grisham, Karen Armstrong, and Barbara Ehrenreich, Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues introduces the ideas that matter today—on subjects as diverse as the politics of food, race in the age of Obama, aging in America, the power of poetry, wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the conflict over gay marriage, and the fate of the American newspaper.With extensive new commentary from Bill Moyers—in the tradition of his national bestsellers A World of Ideas and Healing and the Mind—here is an unparalleled guide to the debates, the cultural currents, and above all the fascinating people who have so powerfully shaped the world we live in.

Product Description: Wherever we turn in America today, we see angry citizens disparaging government, distrusting each other, avoiding civic life, and professing a hatred of politics and politicians of all stripes. Is our situation hopeless? Wilson Carey McWilliams wouldn't think so...read more

Product Description: Fundamentalist capitalism offers nothing to many Americans, who have little or no control over their futures and are underrepresented or not represented at all in the political sector. Only Democratic Capitalism offers them much hope...read more

Product Description: The ideas of John Rawls have revolutionized the shape and content of much of contemporary political and social philosophy. His A Theory of Justice (1971) and Political Liberalism, (1993) among other works, have contributed a rich source of ideas which continue to influence contemporary discussions about justice and politics...read more

Product Description:  Barack Obama's campaign and electoral victory demonstrated the dynamic nature of American democracy. Beginning as a special issue of The Black Scholar, this probing collection illustrates the impact of "the Obama phenomenon" on the future of race relations within the United States through readings on Barack Obama's campaign as well as the idealism and pragmatism of the Obama administration...read more

Product Description: Taking the example of Glenn Beck as a media pundit and propagandist, this timely and provocative book shows how mainstream media fails in its duty―and explains what the American people can do about it.• A foreword by Harvey Sarles, professor of cultural studies and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota• An inde...read more

Product Description: As pundits and politicians remind us at every election cycle or turn of the television dial, the United States sees itself as the world’s greatest democracy. But what citizens might also hear, if they knew how to listen, is the grinding of two tectonic plates on which this democracy was established...read more

Product Description: It is possible to identify at least three ways of conceptualizing change in American democracy. First, change is seen as a product of development. Here change is linear, it signifies progress. The second model sees change as coming from the reflection of the relationship between values and their institutional manifestations...read more

Product Description: This Books á la Carte Plus Edition is an unbound, three-hole punched version of the textbook and provides students the opportunity to personalize their book by incorporating their own notes and taking only the portion of the book they need to class — all at an affordable price...read more

The United States is a republic defined by a set of rules written more than two centuries ago. Yet although some of the rules have changed, the basic plan for our democratic process remains intact. This book examines the system for our representative democracy that was conceived at the Constitutional Convention and was born with the ratification of the Constitution. It also illustrates the many challenges a republic faces and how the United States has faced those challenges throughout history.

Product Description: Bill Bradley is arguably one of the most well-versed public figures of our time.The eighteen-year New Jersey Senator, financial and investment adviser, Olympic and NBA athlete, national radio host, and bestselling author has lived in the United States as both political insider and outsider, national sports celebrity and behind-the-scenes confidante, leader and teammate...read more

Product Description: The publisher of Harper’s Magazine presents “an able, witty, and suitably pissed-off guide” (Bookforum) to American politics  Barack Obama swept into the White House in January 2009 still floating—or so it appeared to millions of his admirers—high above the crude realities of contemporary American political life...read more

Product Description: Local government is the hidden leviathan of American politics: it accounts for nearly a tenth of gross domestic product, it collects nearly as much in taxes as the federal government, and its decisions have an enormous impact on Americans' daily lives...read more