Selling Out America's Democracy: How Lobbyists, Special Interests, and Campaign Financing Undermine the Will of the People

by Alan L. Moss

Overview

America's historic greatness is in decline, subverted by moneyed special interests and their lobbyists who take advantage of our system of campaign financing to thwart the will of the people. Monuments to the impact of factions include inadequate efforts to curb global warming, infrequent increases in the minimum wage, no universal health care, unchecked inner-city crime, and limited stem cell research. Ineffective political leadership, corroded by special interest manipulation, has landed the nation in foreign intervention that takes American lives and spends obscene amounts of U.S. resources. Moss portrays the motivations and methods of those who corrupt our political system and betray the legitimate interests of the American people. He quantifies the gains reaped by beneficiaries of lobbyist successes. Selling Out America's Democracy focuses on Washington insiders who serve the interests of narrow factions that seek to control the national agenda. Telling interviews represent the views of Congressional and think tank staff, lobbyists, media experts, foreign diplomats, and nonprofit citizen advocacy groups. Moss concludes by advancing a program of policy changes calculated to revive our democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313345524
Publisher:	Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/30/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	353 KB

About the Author

Alan L. Moss is an economic consultant and author. He has served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in the U.S. Senate, Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, and Adjunct Instructor in Economics at the University of Virginia's Northern Virginia Center. He is the author of Employment Opportunity: Outlook, Reason, and Reality.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
The Challenge     xiii
Democratic and Political Origin     1
The Ideal of America's Democracy     3
The History of Political Influence in the United States     15
Perspectives of Political Players     25
Views of Citizen Advocacy Staff     27
Views of a Media Expert     37
Views of a Thoughtful Washington Conservative     43
Views of a Seasoned Washington Progressive     55
Views of a Candid Washington Lobbyist     67
Views of a European Diplomat     77
The Leverage of Wealth     83
Global Warming: The Specter of Climate Change     85
Minimum Wage: Income Denied     103
Stem Cell Cures Thwarted     111
Health Care: Profit versus Public Well-Being     119
Inner-City Crime Unabated     137
Impact of Special Interests     147
Beneficiaries of Moneyed Interests     149
Policy versus National Interest     163
Deteriorating Political Leadership and the Tragedy of Iraq     175
A Plan to Revive America's Failed Democracy     185
Why America's Democracy Is Failing     187
The Way Out     195
Notes     203
Bibliography     219
Index     223

Editorial Reviews

Economic consultant and former public servant Moss argues that American politics has been corrupted by special interests, moneyed lobbyists, and the system of campaign finance. He supports this argument through interviews with a variety of Washington actors, including a lobbyist, a European diplomat, and individuals on both sides of the Washington political divide. He then describes the deleterious impact of this corruption in failing to address global warming, raise the minimum wage, fix the health care crisis, or address inner-city crime. He also connects the system's deteriorating political leadership to the tragedy of Iraq and offers a number of measures to solve the problem, including charging the American Political Science Association and other non-partisan groups with developing candidate information profiles, founding a Federation of Public Interest Organizations….providing public financing for all federal elections, and restoring Federal Service capabilities and expertise.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher