A Declaration Of Independents

Author : Nick Gillespie
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1610392000
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Declaration of Independents written by Nick Gillespie and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everywhere in America, the forces of digitization, innovation, and personalization are expanding our options and bettering the way we live. Everywhere, that is, except in our politics. There we are held hostage to an eighteenth century system, dominated by two political parties whose ever-more-polarized rhetorical positions mask a mutual interest in maintaining a stranglehold on power. The Declaration of Independents is a compelling and extremely entertaining manifesto on behalf of a system better suited to the future--one structured by the essential libertarian principles of free minds and free markets. Gillespie and Welch profile libertarian innovators, identify the villains propping up the ancien regime, and take aim at do-something government policies that hurt most of those they claim to protect. Their vision will resonate with a wide swath of frustrated citizens and young voters, born after the Cold War's end, to whom old tribal allegiances, prejudices, and hang-ups about everything from hearing a foreign language on the street to gay marriage to drug use simply do not make sense.

Author : Greg Orman
Publisher : Greenleaf Book Group
ISBN 13 : 1626343330
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Declaration of Independents written by Greg Orman and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2014, Greg Orman made headlines with his historic Independent run for the U.S. Senate in Kansas. Voters gravitated to Orman’s campaign in unprecedented numbers, challenging the entrenched dominance of the two major parties over American politics. In A Declaration of Independents Orman describes how hyper-partisanship, division, and a win-at-all-costs environment in Washington have created a toxic culture of self-interest that has left average Americans behind. Orman makes a persuasive case that without fundamental change, our standard of living, our status in the world, and the very existence of the middle class are at risk. His withering critique of our ruling partisan duopoly explains why voters are choosing unconventional candidates in increasing numbers—from his own 2014 Senate race to the nation’s 2016 presidential campaign. Taking direct aim at the corrupt practices that keep the two parties in power despite historically low approval ratings, Orman argues convincingly that the system is rigged for the benefit of special interests who buy access to power. Drawing on his own journey to political independence, Orman lays out a plan for taking back our government by rejecting party politics and embracing a new Independent approach.

Author : William Hogeland
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416584250
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Declaration written by William Hogeland and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the rambunctious story of how America came to declare independence in Philadelphia in 1776. As late as that May, the Continental Congress had no plans to break away from England. Troops under General George Washington had been fighting the British for nearly a year—yet in Philadelphia a mighty bloc known as "reconciliationists," led by the influential Pennsylvanian John Dickinson, strove to keep America part of the British Empire. But a cadre of activists—led by the mysterious Samuel Adams of Massachusetts and assisted by his nervous cousin John—plotted to bring about American independence. Their audacious secret plan proposed overturning the reconciliationist government of Pennsylvania and replacing it with pro-independence leaders. Remarkably, the adventure succeeded. The Adams coalition set in motion a startling chain of events in the Philadelphia streets, in the Continental Congress, and throughout the country that culminated in the Declaration of Independence on July 4. In Declaration William Hogeland brings to vibrant life both the day-to-day excitement and the profound importance of those nine fast-paced weeks essential to the American founding yet little known today. He depicts the strange-bedfellow alliance the Adamses formed with scruffy Philadelphia outsiders and elegant Virginia planters to demand liberty. He paints intimate portraits of key figures: John Dickinson, a patriot who found himself outmaneuvered on the losing side of history; Benjamin Franklin, the most famous man in America, engaged in and perplexed by his city’s upheavals; Samuel Adams, implacable in changing the direction of Congress; his cousin John, anxious about the democratic aspirations of their rabble-rousing Philadelphia allies; and those democratic radical organizers themselves, essential to bringing about independence, all but forgotten until now. As the patriots’ adventure gathers toward the world-changing climax of the Declaration, conflicts and ironies arise, with trenchant relevance for the most important issues confronting Americans today. Declaration offers a fresh, gripping, and vivid portrait of the passionate men and thrilling events that gave our country birth.

Author : Andrew J. Taylor
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313042950
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Elephant's Edge written by Andrew J. Taylor and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-08-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Republican Party currently enjoys an edge. The advantage can be seen in Congress, state politics, judicial rulings, foreign and domestic policy, party finances, the media, public attitudes, and economic and demographic developments. Yet the Republicans do not seem capable of translating this into a durable electoral majority. Conditions now exist within American politics that will facilitate the establishment of Republican rule. Many of these conditions have ripened during the past decade. They include rules governing elections and campaign finance, shifts in core political values among the public that are consistent with Republican philosophy, and fundamental social and economic changes in American society that are likely to increase the ranks of Republican voters. The author explains in lucid, engaging terms how Republicans have taken control of both houses of Congress and experienced a remarkable resurgence at the state level. He explores how conservatives are utilizing the courts to simultaneously move policy rightward and mobilize sympathetic parts of the electorate. He also examines social and economic changes to show how racial politics, religiosity, and the nature of work and wealth benefit today's Republican Party. Republican rule should not be confused with Republican realignment. These conditions will advantage Republicans in future elections and bring about consistent Republican control of government at all levels—federal, state, and local, executive, legislative, and judicial. However, current conditions do not guarantee the kind of enduring Republican majority many journalists and strategists have predicted. Taylor explains the factors that will prohibit the Republicans from fully exploiting their advantages and dominating American politics the way the Democrats did in the 30 years following the New Deal. These factors include internal and intractable tensions within the Republican Party, the parties' sophisticated political information gathering strategies, and the innate risk aversion of the campaign industry.

Author : Jacqueline S. Salit
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1137072555
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Independents Rising written by Jacqueline S. Salit and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revealing look at how independent voters have been upending the political establishment for thirty years – and how they'll decide the future of American politics. In a political system where two parties reign supreme, 40% of Americans consider themselves neither Democrats nor Republicans, but independents. Independents elected President Barack Obama in 2008 and then, in a seeming reversal, gave control of Congress to the Republicans in 2010. But who are these independents? Angry moderates? Frustrated ideologues? The base for the third party? Reformers or revolutionaries? Jacqueline Salit has spent 30 years as an insider in this growing movement of outsiders. She recounts the little-known history of this volatile force as old political institutions and categories are becoming irrelevant – even repugnant – to many Americans. An architect of unorthodox left/right coalitions within the Perot movement and Reform Party, and manager of Michael Bloomberg's three New York mayoral campaigns on the Independence Party line, Salit explores how these unclaimed voters are not only deciding elections, but reshaping the political landscape. With a surprising cast of characters – from the famous to the unknown – Salit argues that the failure to heed this movement against partisanship (and even parties) puts political careers at risk and damages essential features of American democracy. She reveals how independents underestimate their own power and how they can make the most of their newfound moment in the sun.

Author : Drew Westen
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1586485997
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Political Brain written by Drew Westen and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2008-05-06 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Political Brain is a groundbreaking investigation into the role of emotion in determining the political life of the nation. For two decades Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University, has explored a theory of the mind that differs substantially from the more "dispassionate" notions held by most cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and economists—and Democratic campaign strategists. The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works. When political candidates assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on "the issues," they lose. That's why only one Democrat has been re-elected to the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt—and only one Republican has failed in that quest. In politics, when reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins. Elections are decided in the marketplace of emotions, a marketplace filled with values, images, analogies, moral sentiments, and moving oratory, in which logic plays only a supporting role. Westen shows, through a whistle-stop journey through the evolution of the passionate brain and a bravura tour through fifty years of American presidential and national elections, why campaigns succeed and fail. The evidence is overwhelming that three things determine how people vote, in this order: their feelings toward the parties and their principles, their feelings toward the candidates, and, if they haven't decided by then, their feelings toward the candidates' policy positions. Westen turns conventional political analyses on their head, suggesting that the question for Democratic politics isn't so much about moving to the right or the left but about moving the electorate. He shows how it can be done through examples of what candidates have said—or could have said—in debates, speeches, and ads. Westen's discoveries could utterly transform electoral arithmetic, showing how a different view of the mind and brain leads to a different way of talking with voters about issues that have tied the tongues of Democrats for much of forty years—such as abortion, guns, taxes, and race. You can't change the structure of the brain. But you can change the way you appeal to it. And here's how…

Author : Matt Welch
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 0230608558
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book McCain: The Myth of a Maverick written by Matt Welch and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-10-16 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John McCain is one of the most familiar, sympathetic, and overexposed figures in American politics, yet his concrete governing philosophy and actual track record have been left curiously unexamined, mostly because of the massive distractions in his official biography, but also because of his ingenious strategy of talking ad infinitum to each and every access-craving media person who happens by. The more he has spouted, the less journalists have bothered trying to see through the fog. McCain gives the public what it wants but can't find -- a flesh-and-bones political portrait of a man onto whom people are forever projecting their own ideological fantasies. It is a psychological key for decoding his allegedly ‘maverick' actions. McCain will quickly lay out in overlapping detail the root cause of the senator's worldview: his personal transformation from underachieving punk to war hawk uber-patriot, in which he used the "higher power" of American nationalism to save his life and soul. McCain looks behind the war hero, behind the maverick reformer. Journalist and pundit Matt Welch brings to this project an investigative eye and a coolly analytical mindset to provide Republicans, Democrats and Independents a picture of the man.

Author : Charles S. Mack
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book When Political Parties Die written by Charles S. Mack and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-08-11 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a theory of political disalignment and a revised theory of party realignment, using four case studies from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Italy to illustrate these concepts. Why do major political parties die? The shelf life of minor parties in democracies tends to be short, but major parties tend to be highly durable. The Democratic Party of the United States and the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom have been going strong for two centuries. Major parties perpetuate themselves by maintaining a consistent ideology on major national issues, even at the cost of periodic defeats at the polls. In American politics, ideological polarization maintains the vitality of the two major parties and renders them almost immune to threats from new parties, even as it impedes consensus and compromise on public issues. Spectacular instances of sudden death in major parties have nevertheless occurred in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy, and they all exhibit similar characteristics. The fatal event—which author Charles S. Mack calls "disalignment"—occurs when a schism opens between party leaders and traditional core-base voters on an issue of overriding national importance. Major parties survive periodic defeats, but they cannot survive disalignment.

Author : Nick Gillespie
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781586489397
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Declaration of Independents written by Nick Gillespie and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everywhere in America, the forces of digitization, innovation, and personalization are expanding our options and bettering the way we live. Everywhere, that is, except in our politics. There we are held hostage to an eighteenth century system, dominated by two political parties whose ever-more-polarized rhetorical positions mask a mutual interest in maintaining a stranglehold on power. The Declaration of Independents is a compelling and extremely entertaining manifesto on behalf of a system better suited to the future--one structured by the essential libertarian principles of free minds and free markets. Gillespie and Welch profile libertarian innovators, identify the villains propping up the ancien regime, and take aim at do-something government policies that hurt most of those they claim to protect. Their vision will resonate with a wide swath of frustrated citizens and young voters, born after the Cold War's end, to whom old tribal allegiances, prejudices, and hang-ups about everything from hearing a foreign language on the street to gay marriage to drug use simply do not make sense.

Author : James Bennett
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317690338
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Media Independence written by James Bennett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Media independence is central to the organization, make-up, working practices and output of media systems across the globe. Often stemming from western notions of individual and political freedoms, independence has informed the development of media across a range of platforms: from the freedom of the press as the "fourth estate" and the rise of Hollywood’s Independent studios and Independent television in Britain, through to the importance of "Indy" labels in music and gaming and the increasing importance of independence of voice in citizen journalism. Media independence for many, therefore, has come to mean working with freedom: from state control or interference, from monopoly, from market forces, as well as freedom to report, comment, create and document without fear of persecution. However, far from a stable concept that informs all media systems, the notion of media independence has long been contested, forming a crucial tension point in the regulation, shape, size and role of the media around the globe. Contributors including David Hesmondhalgh, Gholam Khiabany, José van Dijck, Hector Postigo, Anthony Fung, Stuart Allan and Geoff King demonstrate how the notion of independence has remained paramount, but contested, in ideals of what the media is for, how it should be regulated, what it should produce and what working within it should be like. They address questions of economics, labor relations, production cultures, ideologies and social functions.