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How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism
Basic Books
May 2012
On Sale: May 1, 2012
240 pages
ISBN: 0465031331
EAN: 9780465031337
Kindle: B007UPDFKA
Hardcover / e-Book
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Paperback (reprint - September 2013)
Non-Fiction Political | Non-Fiction History
Acrimony and hyperpartisanship have seeped into every part
of the political process. Congress is deadlocked and its
approval ratings are at record lows. America’s two main
political parties have given up their traditions of
compromise, endangering our very system of constitutional
democracy. And one of these parties has taken on the role of
insurgent outlier; the Republicans have become ideologically
extreme, scornful of compromise, and ardently opposed to the
established social and economic policy regime.
In It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, congressional scholars
Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein identify two overriding
problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the
brink of institutional collapse. The first is the serious
mismatch between our political parties, which have become as
vehemently adversarial as parliamentary parties, and a
governing system that, unlike a parliamentary democracy,
makes it extremely difficult for majorities to act. Second,
while both parties participate in tribal warfare, both sides
are not equally culpable. The political system faces what
the authors call “asymmetric polarization,” with the
Republican Party implacably refusing to allow anything that
might help the Democrats politically, no matter the cost.
With dysfunction rooted in long-term political trends, a
coarsened political culture and a new partisan media, the
authors conclude that there is no “silver bullet” reform
that can solve everything. But they offer a panoply of
useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like
greater public participation and institutional restructuring
of the House and Senate, while debunking others, like
independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call
on the media as well as the public at large to focus on the
true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the
bums out every election cycle. Until voters learn to act
strategically to reward problem solving and punish
obstruction, American democracy will remain in serious danger.
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