A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption

by Jay Cost

Overview

After the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A Republic—if you can keep it.”

This book argues: we couldn’t keep it.

A true republic privileges the common interest above the special interests. To do this, our Constitution established an elaborate system of checks and balances that separates power among the branches of government, and places them in conflict with one another. The Framers believed that this would keep grasping, covetous factions from acquiring enough power to dominate government. Instead, only the people would rule.

Proper institutional design is essential to this system. Each branch must manage responsibly the powers it is granted, as well as rebuke the other branches when they go astray. This is where subsequent generations have run into trouble: we have overloaded our government with more power than it can handle. The Constitution's checks and balances have broken down because the institutions created in 1787 cannot exercise responsibly the powers of our sprawling, immense twenty-first century government.

The result is the triumph of special interests over the common interest. James Madison called this factionalism. We know it as political corruption.

Corruption today is so widespread that our government is not so much a republic, but rather a special interest democracy. Everybody may participate, yes, but the contours of public policy depend not so much on the common good, but rather the push-and-pull of the various interest groups encamped in Washington, DC.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594037276
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	02/10/2015
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	1,047,670
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Jay Cost has been a top political analyst for a decade. Currently a staff writer for The Weekly Standard, he got his start with RealClearPolitics.com. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, National Review, FoxNews.com, National Affairs and Policy Review. His first book, Spoiled Rotten, was a critical history of the Democratic Party published in 2012 by Broadside Books. He received a B.A. with High Distinction in government and history from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago. He resides in Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition xi

Preface xv

Introduction "The Violence of Faction" Understanding Political Corruption 1

1 "The Great Desideratum": Madison, Hamilton, and the First Bank of the United States 19

2 "The Spirit of the Nation Forbids It": Nationalism and Corruption from Jefferson to Jackson 41

3 "The General Scramble for Plunder": Patronage in Jacksonian America 62

4 "Permanent and Terrible Mischief": Machine Politics in the Gilded Age 83

5 "The King of Frauds": Business and Politics in the Gilded Age 109

6 "To Dissolve the Unholy Alliance": The Progressive Response to Corruption 131

7 "A Grand Political Racket": Corruption in the New Deal 151

8 "Clear it with Sidney": Modern Liberalism and the Interest Group Society 172

9 "A Grab Bag of Subsidies": The Politics of American Agriculture 191

10 "The Parochial Imperative": The Politics of the Pork Barrel 210

11 "A Big, Dumb Price Fixer": Medicare and the Politics of Entitlements 231

12 "A Robbery of the Great Majority": The Politics of Corporate Taxation 253

13 "The Pretorian Band": Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Politics of Regulatory Capture 278

Conclusion: A Republic No More 303

Acknowledgments 321

Notes 323

Index 381