Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money - Softcover

Broder, David S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156014106 ISBN 13: 9780156014106

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2001

Synopsis

Now in paperback, how initiatives are remaking our democracy, creating a hazardous new arena of politics.

Where once most state laws were passed by legislatures, now voters in half the states and hundreds of cities decide directly on such explosive issues as drugs, affirmative action, casino gambling, assisted suicide, and human rights. Ostensibly driven by public opinion, the initiative process is far too often manipulated by moneyed interests, often funded by out-of-state millionaires pursuing their own agendas.

In this highly controversial book, David Broder, the "dean of American political journalism" (Brill's Content), explains how a movement that started with Proposition 13 in California is now a multimillion-dollar business in which lawyers, campaign consultants, signature gatherers, and advertising agencies sell their expertise to interest groups with private agendas.

With a new afterword updating the results of the most recent elections and discussing the potential for future initiatives, Broder takes the reader into the heart of these battles as he talks with the field operatives, lobbyists, PR spinners, labor leaders, and business executives, all of whom can manipulate the political process.

About this title

About the Author

David S. Broder, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter and columnist, writers twice weekly for the Washington Post and is syndicated in more than 300 newspapers. He is a regular on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN's Inside Politics, and PBS's Washington Week in Review. He grew up in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and worked on the Bloomington (illinois) Pantagraph, Congressional Quarterly, the Washington Star, and the New York Times before joining the Post in 1966. He has covered every presidential election campagin since 1960. He is the author or coauthor of six previous books, most recetnly The Sysyten and the best-seller, Changing of the Guard. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.<br>

Edition details

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0156014106
• ISBN 13: 9780156014106
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300