Democracy For The Few

by Parenti , Michael

• ISBN13: 9780495007449
• ISBN10: 0495007447
• Edition: 8th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-02-15
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

This is no ordinary textbook on American Government. DEMOCRACY FOR THE FEW is a provocative interpretation of American Government that you have likely not been exposed to in elementary school, high school, or other college courses, and certainly not in the mass media. This textbook shows how democracy is repeatedly violated by corporate oligopolies, but how popular forces have fought back and occasionally made gains in spite of the system. By focusing on the relationship between economic power and political power, discussing actual government practices and policies, conspiracies, propaganda, fraud, secrecy and other ploys of government and politics, this book stands apart in its analysis of how US Government works.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
About the Author	p. xiv
Partisan Politics	p. 1
Beyond Textbooks	p. 1
The Politico-Economic System	p. 3
Wealth and Want in the United States	p. 6
Capital and Labor	p. 6
Capital Concentration: Who Owns America?	p. 8
Downsizing and Price Gouging	p. 12
Monopoly Farming	p. 14
Market Demand and Productivity	p. 15
The Hardships of Working America	p. 18
The Human Costs of Economic Injustice	p. 22
The Plutocratic Culture: Institutions and Ideologies	p. 27
Corporate Plutocracy and Ideological Orthodoxy	p. 27
Left, Right, and Center	p. 31
Public Opinion: Which Direction?	p. 35
Democracy: Form and Content	p. 36
A Constitution for the Few	p. 40
Class Power in Early America	p. 40
Containing the Spread of Democracy	p. 42
Fragmenting Majority Power	p. 45
Plotters or Patriots?	p. 46
Democratic Concessions	p. 49
Rise of the Corporate State	p. 53
War against Labor, Favors for Business	p. 53
Pliable Progressives and Red Scares	p. 57
The New Deal: Hard Times and Tough Reforms	p. 59
Politics: Who Gets What?	p. 65
Welfare for the Rich	p. 65
Federal Bailouts, State and Local Handouts	p. 67
Taxes: Helping the Rich in Their Time of Greed	p. 68
Unkind Cuts, Unfair Rates	p. 71
Deficit Spending and the National Debt	p. 73
Some Hidden Deficits	p. 74
The U.S. Global Military Empire	p. 77
A Global Kill Capacity	p. 77
Pentagon Profits, Waste, and Theft	p. 79
Harming Our Own	p. 81
Economic Imperialism	p. 83
Intervention Everywhere	p. 85
Global Bloodletting	p. 86
Health and Human Services: Sacrificial Lambs	p. 92
The Poor Get Less (and Less)	p. 92
Social Insecurity: Privatizing Everything	p. 94
How Much Health Can You Afford?	p. 95
Buyers Beware, and Workers Too	p. 99
Creating Crises: Schools and Housing	p. 100
"Mess Transit"	p. 102
The Last Environment	p. 106
Toxifying the Earth	p. 106
Eco-Apocalypse	p. 109
Pollution for Profits	p. 110
Government for the Despoilers	p. 112
An Alternative Approach	p. 114
Unequal before the Law	p. 118
Crime in the Suites	p. 118
Class Law: Tough on the Weak	p. 122
The Crime of Prisons	p. 125
A Most Fallible System	p. 126
Sexist Justice	p. 128
The Victimization of Children	p. 131
Racist Law Enforcement	p. 132
Political Repression and National Insecurity	p. 138
The Repression of Dissent	p. 138
Political Prisoners, USA	p. 141
Political Murder, USA	p. 144
The National Security Autocracy	p. 148
CIA: Capitalism's International Army or Cocaine Import Agency?	p. 150
Watergate and Iran-contra	p. 152
Homeland Insecurity	p. 153
Who Governs? Elites, Labor, and Globalization	p. 160
The Ruling Class	p. 160
Labor Besieged	p. 163
Unions and the Good Fight	p. 165
How Globalization Undermines Democracy	p. 166
Mass Media: For the Many, by the Few	p. 173
He Who Pays the Piper	p. 173
The Ideological Monopoly	p. 177
Serving Officialdom	p. 180
Political Entertainment	p. 182
Room for Alternatives?	p. 183
Voters, Parties, and Stolen Elections	p. 188
Democrats and Republicans: Any Differences?	p. 188
The Two-party Monopoly	p. 191
Making Every Vote Count	p. 192
Rigging the Game	p. 193
Money: A Necessary Condition	p. 195
The Struggle to Vote	p. 198
Stolen Elections, Lost Democracy	p. 201
Congress: The Pocketing of Power	p. 210
A Congress for the Money	p. 210
Lobbyists: The Other Lawmakers	p. 213
The Varieties of Corruption	p. 216
Special Interests, Secrecy, and Manipulation	p. 219
The Legislative Labyrinth	p. 222
Term Limits	p. 224
Legislative Democracy under Siege	p. 226
The President: Guardian of the System	p. 230
Salesman of the System	p. 230
The Two Faces of the President	p. 233
Feds versus States	p. 237
A Loaded Electoral College	p. 238
The Would-Be King	p. 241
The Political Economy of Bureaucracy	p. 250
The Myth and Reality of Inefficiency	p. 250
Deregulation and Privatization	p. 253
Secrecy and Deception, Waste and Corruption	p. 255
Nonenforcement: Politics in Command	p. 258
Serving the "Regulated"	p. 260
Public Authority in Private Hands	p. 263
Monopoly Regulation versus Public-Service Regulation	p. 264
The Supremely Political Court	p. 268
Who Judges?	p. 268
Conservative Judicial Activism	p. 271
Circumventing the First Amendment	p. 273
Freedom for Revolutionaries (and Others)?	p. 276
As the Court Turns	p. 277
Influence of the Court	p. 284
Democracy for the Few	p. 289
Pluralism for the Few	p. 289
The Limits of Reform	p. 292
Democracy as Class Struggle	p. 294
The Roles of State	p. 296
What Is to Be Done?	p. 298
The Reality of Public Production	p. 303
Index	p. 310
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