America's Failing Experiment: How We the People Have Become the Problem

by Kirby Goidel

Overview

America’s Failing Experiment: How We the People Have Become the Problem, makes the controversial claim that the American political system suffers from too much democracy. An accomplished public policy expert coeditor of the Journal Survey Practice, Kirby Goidel argues that our elected officials are overly responsive to public opinion which is often poorly informed, incoherent, and uncertain. The result is a more polarized political system, rising inequality, and institutional gridlock. These concerns are not new but take on deeper political significance in a digital age where information flows more quickly and opportunities for feedback are virtually unlimited. If the diagnosis is too much democracy, the counterintuitive solution runs against our cultural norms—less citizen involvement, greater discretion for political elites, and greater collective responsibility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442226517
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/12/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	626 KB

About the Author

Kirby Goidel is the Scripps Howard Professor of Mass Communication, and former Director of the Public Policy Research Lab at Louisiana State University and a co-editor of the journal Survey Practice, sponsored by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).

Table of Contents

Introduction: We Are the Problem

Chapter 1: Constitutional Design and Democracy

Chapter 2: Political Psychology and Democratic Competence

Chapter 3: Political Inequality and Campaign Finance

Chapter 4: The News Media, New Media, and Democracy

Chapter 5: Gridlock and American Political Institutions

Chapter 6: Do No Harm

Chapter 7: America’s Recovery Plan

Editorial Reviews

Many of the academics who began their teaching and research careers during the troubling and depressing eras of Vietnam and Watergate hoped to contribute to a better political system nurtured by less economic and representational inequality and enlightened by greater wisdom from our informational resources. Hopefully, all of this would lead to more informed, cogent and sophisticated voter choices amidst a complicated political issue environment. These academics are now nearing the end of their careers wondering what happened to these hopes for that better political system. Among the next generation of scholars, Professor Goidel provides us with a lucent description of our problems and a prescription for that transformed and better political system. This work is for all of us who understand that our governmental system and way of life confront enormous problems and challenges yet still dream of better tomorrows.” —Anthony J. Eksterowicz, Professor Emeritus, James Madison University

“Are we the people our Founders warned us about? Kirby Goidel lays out a compelling case for the sources of government failure in the United States. To no small extent, it resides with us and the institutional changes we made to our political system. These changes increased democratic controls, but also decreased accountability and long-range thinking, leading to a crisis-management approach to governing. In his ‘recovery plan,' Goidel challenges us to think creatively about institutional and constitutional reform to preserve the Republic—before it is too late.” —Ronald Keith Gaddie, author, Regulating Wetland Protection: Environmental Federalism and the States

From the Publisher

Are we the people our Founders warned us about? Kirby Goidel lays out a compelling case for the sources of government failure in the United States. To no small extent, it resides with us and the institutional changes we made to our political system. These changes increased democratic controls, but also decreased accountability and long-range thinking, leading to a crisis-management approach to governing. In his ‘recovery plan,' Goidel challenges us to think creatively about institutional and constitutional reform to preserve the Republic—before it is too late.

Ronald Keith Gaddie

Many of the academics who began their teaching and research careers during the troubling and depressing eras of Vietnam and Watergate hoped to contribute to a better political system nurtured by less economic and representational inequality and enlightened by greater wisdom from our informational resources. Hopefully, all of this would lead to more informed, cogent and sophisticated voter choices amidst a complicated political issue environment. These academics are now nearing the end of their careers wondering what happened to these hopes for that better political system. Among the next generation of scholars, Professor Goidel provides us with a lucent description of our problems and a prescription for that transformed and better political system. This work is for all of us who understand that our governmental system and way of life confront enormous problems and challenges yet still dream of better tomorrows.

Anthony J. Eksterowicz