Voices of Dissent

by Grover, William F.; Peschek, Joseph G.

• ISBN13: 9780321078391
• ISBN10: 032107839X
• Edition: 4TH
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Summary

This distinctive reader is the only collection of truly critical readings on American government available. Its approach takes readers beyond the mainstream debate between liberalism and conservatism and stimulates them to think deeply about the American political system.

Author Biography

William F. Grover is Professor of Political Science at Saint Michael's College in Vermont Joseph G. Peschek is Professor of Political Science at Hamline University in Minnesota

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Introduction: Why a Critical Reader?	1	(6)
Part I: Structure	7	(116)
Democracy and Political Economy	9	(36)
This Land is Your Land	10	(11)
Jim Hightower
The Market as Prison	21	(8)
Charles E. Lindblom
Why Does the Air Stink? Corporate Power and Public Policy	29	(11)
Dan Clawson
Alan Neustadtl
Mark Weller
Global Ecology and the Common Good	40	(5)
John Bellamy Foster
Ideology and Political Culture	45	(50)
What is the American Dream?	46	(14)
Jennifer L. Hochschild
Liberal Individualism and the Crisis of Citizenship	60	(9)
Robert N. Bellah
Richard Madsen
William M. Sullivan
Ann Swidler
Steven M. Tipton
Power of Majority Opinion in America Over Thought	69	(4)
Alexis De Tocqueville
The Common Good	73	(11)
Noam Chomsky
It's the Media, Stupid	84	(11)
Robert W. McChesney
John Nichols
Constitutional and State Structures	95	(28)
American Exceptionalism: The Politics of Fragmentation	96	(7)
Joshua Cohen
Joel Rogers
The Dark Side of the Constitution	103	(12)
Kenneth M. Dolbeare
Linda Medcalf
How the Constitution is Paralyzing American Democracy	115	(5)
Daniel Lazare
Some Truths Are Not Self-Evident	120	(3)
Howard Zinn
Part II: Institutions and Processes	123	(148)
Congress	125	(36)
Congress and Big Business	126	(7)
John C. Berg
RIP for Democratic Politics	133	(8)
Benjamin Ginsberg
Martin Shefter
Let the Lobby Boys In	141	(7)
David Maraniss
Michael Weisskopf
Congress and Movement-Building: Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus	148	(13)
William F. Grover
The Presidency	161	(38)
The Limits of Presidential Power	162	(5)
Michael A. Genovese
The Presidential Spectacle	167	(15)
Bruce Miroff
Star Wars II: Here We Go Again	182	(10)
Michelle Ciarrocca
William D. Hartung
Perilous Restoration: The Election of 2000 and the Presidency of George W. Bush	192	(7)
Joseph G. Peschek
Law and the Courts	199	(29)
Corporations, the Law, and Democracy	200	(12)
Carl Swidorski
Is Free Speech the Enemy of Democracy?	212	(8)
Cass R. Sunstein
Race, the Courts, and Justice	220	(4)
Patricia J. Williams
Women's Rights and the Cultural Defense Argument	224	(4)
Nina Schuyler
Parties and Elections	228	(43)
Why Americans Still Don't Vote	229	(10)
Frances Fox Piven
Richard A. Cloward
Finding the Lost Voters	239	(7)
Micah L. Sifry
America's Forgotten Majority	246	(12)
Joel Rogers
Ruy Teixeira
The Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite	258	(8)
Kiku Adatto
Making Every Vote Count: A Case for Proportional Representation	266	(5)
Douglas J. Amy
Part III: Politics and Vision	271	(77)
Political Challenges at Home and Abroad	273	(41)
The Shaky American Dream: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap	273	(12)
Holly Sklar
Betsy Leondar-Wright
Chuck Collins
Doing It For Ourselves: Can Feminism Survive Class Polarization?	285	(5)
Barbara Ehrenreich
Beyond Ramps: Charity and Economic Rights in Collision	290	(8)
Marta Russell
Workin' on the Chain Gang	298	(7)
Walter Mosley
Global Agenda: The WTO, Globalization, and the Threat to Democracy	305	(9)
William Greider
Personal Responsibility and Democratic Citizenship	314	(34)
Letter from Birmingham Jail	315	(7)
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Possibility of Hope	322	(7)
Howard Zinn
Why Unions Matter	329	(8)
Elaine Bernard
After the Deluge: Electoral Reform in the Wake of the Election of 2000	337	(4)
Lani Guinier
Closing the Democracy Gap	341	(7)
Ralph Nader
Resources for Further Study	348	(5)
APPENDIX	353	(23)
The Declaration of Independence	353	(3)
The Constitution of the United States	356	(15)
The Federalist No. 10	371	(5)
Credits	376