Voices Of Dissent: Critical Readings In American Politics

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

• ISBN13: 9780321328175
• ISBN10: 0321328175
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

This distinctive readerthe only collection of critical readings on American government availabletakes students far beyond the mainstream debate between liberalism and conservatism to fundamentally challenge the status quo.Voices of Dissentprovides a systematic series of critical perspectives on American politics that goes beyond the debate between mainstream liberalism and conservatism. This text nurtures students'abilities to critically assess the "givens" of political and economic life in the United States. A recurrent theme in the selections is political economy and the tension between capitalism and democracy.

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	vi
Introduction: Why a Critical Reader?	1	(8)
PART I: Structure	9	(102)
Democracy and Political Economy	10	(35)
This Land Is Your Land	11	(11)
Jim Hightower
The Market as Prison	22	(8)
Charles E. Lindblom
Why Does the Air Stink? Corporate Power and Public Policy	30	(10)
Dan Clawson
Alan Neustadtl
Mark Weller
Global Ecology and the Common Good	40	(5)
John Bellamy Foster
Ideology and Political Culture	45	(35)
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 Greatest Nation on Earth	73	(7)
Robert Jensen
Constitutional and State Structures	80	(31)
American Exceptionalism and the Politics of Fragmentation	81	(7)
Joshua Cohen
Joel Rogers
The Dark Side of the Constitution	88	(12)
Kenneth M. Dolbeare
Linda Medcalf
The Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Decline of American Democracy	100	(7)
Daniel Lazare
Some Truths Are Not Self-Evident	107	(4)
Howard Zinn
PART II: Politics and Institutions	111	(182)
Mass Media and Politics	113	(38)
It's the Media, Stupid	114	(11)
Robert W. McChesney
John Nichols
News Content and Illusion: Four Information Biases That Matter	125	(10)
W. Lance Bennett
The Media and the Bush Dyslexicon	135	(10)
Mark Crispin Miller
Media Power Sources: TV Sets the Agenda	145	(6)
Ina Howard
Parties and Elections	151	(29)
Why Americans Still Don't Vote	152	(10)
Frances Fox Piven
Richard A. Cloward
Finding the Lost Voters	162	(7)
Micah L. Sifry
Let Them Eat War	169	(6)
Arlie Hochschild
After the Deluge: Electoral Reform in the Wake of the Election of 2000	175	(5)
Lani Guinier
Congress	180	(34)
Congress and Big Business	181	(7)
John C. Berg
Common Cause Democracy on Drugs: How a Bill Really Becomes A Law	188	(8)
Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) Courage in Congress: Two Dissenters Explain Their Actions	196	(4)
Congress and Movement-Building: Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus	200	(14)
William F. Grover
The Presidency	214	(41)
The Limits of Presidential Power	215	(5)
Michael A. Genovese
The Presidential Spectacle	220	(17)
Bruce Miroff
Presidential Dynasties	237	(5)
Kevin Phillips
The Bush Presidency and the Politics of Conservative Domination	242	(13)
Joseph G. Peschek
Law and the Courts	255	(38)
Corporations, the Law, and Democracy	256	(10)
Carl Swidorski
Is Free Speech the Enemy of Democracy?	266	(9)
Cass R. Sunstein
This Dangerous Patriot's Game	275	(7)
Patricia J. Williams
Neo-Patriarchy and the Anti-Homosexual Agenda	282	(11)
R. Claire Snyder
PART III: Politics and Vision	293	(68)
Political Challenges at Home and Abroad	294	(36)
For Richer: Class Inequality and Democracy	295	(13)
Paul Krugman
Doing it for Ourselves: Can Feminism Survive Class Polarization?	308	(5)
Barbara Ehrenreich
Black America and the Dilemma of Patriotism	313	(5)
Brian Gilmore
The United States and Global Wars of Terror	318	(12)
Noam Chomsky
Visions of a New Democracy	330	(31)
Letter From Birmingham Jail	331	(8)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reclaiming the Commons	339	(7)
Naomi Klein
Why Unions Matter	346	(8)
Elaine Bernard
Closing the Democracy Gap	354	(7)
Ralph Nader
Resources for Further Study	361	(3)
Appendix	364	(20)
The Declaration of Independence	364	(3)
The Constitution of the United States	367	(13)
The Federalist No. 10	380	(4)
Credits	384