Of, By, For: The New Politics of Money, Debt & Democracy

by Joe Costello

Overview

Of, By, For is a compilation of thoughts, analysis, and short essays on American politics. The underlying theme; American politics is both corrupt and dysfunctional. Its conclusion; American political economy must be democratically reformed, using both the knowledge we have from the past and imagination for the future.

Although this is a work about American politics, you will not find reference to the present election campaigns or candidates, nor little about liberal or conservative, and Democrat or Republicans. Any mention of the two latter categories inevitably deals with their culpability and complicity in our increasingly destructive political dysfunction.

The book acknowledges and places in context the historical uniqueness of the American Republic, noting as historian Gore Vidal has said, across recorded Western history, self-government is an anomaly. It is this historical uniqueness that should be highly treasured.

I seek to help define, redefine, and most importantly expand the components of what presently is popularly considered politics. I look seriously at banking, finance, debt, the corporation, technology, our physical environment, and money, describing how these are all political entities, seriously lacking in democratic structure and process.

The entire work advocates democracy as the cure for our political ills. I offer a historical perspective on the processes and structures of self-government, hopefully offering ideas on how we can reform and evolve democracy for the 21st century. This is done with the understanding, that democracy, at its foundation, needs an educated, active, and trusted citizenry.

Finally, this book is not structured as a traditional narrative. While each chapter is cohesive, I also invite dipping and skipping around to subsections, which I believe each offer a thought, a catalyst for thinking. This book is a call for the American people to reclaim their rights and responsibilities. Most importantly, it is a call for participation in this great democratic experiment, to not do so, would be both a rejection of our heritage and a condemnation of the future.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940033248988
Publisher:	Joe Costello
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	260 KB

About the Author

Joe Costello has been at the confluence of politics, communications, economics, and energy for over three decades. Costello worked for over a dozen years running election campaigns from the city council to presidential level, starting with Edward M. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1980. In 1992, he was Communications Director for California Governor Jerry Brown's presidential campaign where he very successfully helped redefine political communications and campaign fundraising. In 2004, he was a Senior Adviser to Governor Howard Dean's ground breaking presidential campaign.

In the late 1990s, working with a coalition of energy companies and environmental groups, he devised and helped organize a successful statewide campaign to promote solar, wind, and geothermal energy generation to California businesses and local governments. In recent years, he led a marketing campaign for Tree Media's and Leonardo DiCaprio's award winning environmental documentary, The 11th Hour. He has worked with personal computer entrepreneur – Lotus 1,2,3, and Internet pioneer, Mitchell Kapor. He was a United Nations NGO representative for Mikhail Gorbachev's Global Green USA to the "United Nations Global Summit on Sustainability" in Johannesburg, South Africa 2002, and the "United Nations Convention on Climate Change," in Bali, Indonesia, 2007. He is a graduate of Boston College.

Over the last two decades, Costello became increasingly concerned with the growing corruption and dysfunction of the American political economy. He believes political and economic reform is a necessity and will only be accomplished by the individual political will and collective action of the American people.