Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 244
•
Trim: 6 x 8¾
978-1-4422-2650-0 • Hardback • December 2013 • $60.00 • (£46.00)
978-1-4422-4750-5 • Paperback • April 2015 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4422-2651-7 • eBook • December 2013 • $37.00 • (£30.00)
Kirby Goidel is professor and fellow in the Public Policy Research Institute and the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. Previously, he was the Scripps Howard Professor of Mass Communication and a professor in the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University where he also served as director of the Public Policy Research Lab. He is co-editor of Survey Practice, a journal sponsored by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).
Introduction: We Are the Problem
Chapter 1: Constitutional Design and Democracy
Chapter 2: Political Psychology and Democratic Competence
Chapter 3: Political Inequality and Campaign Finance
Chapter 4: The News Media, New Media, and Democracy
Chapter 5: Gridlock and American Political Institutions
Chapter 6: Do No Harm
Chapter 7: America’s Recovery Plan
Many of the academics who began their teaching and research careers during the troubling and depressing eras of Vietnam and Watergate hoped to contribute to a better political system nurtured by less economic and representational inequality and enlightened by greater wisdom from our informational resources. Hopefully, all of this would lead to more informed, cogent and sophisticated voter choices amidst a complicated political issue environment. These academics are now nearing the end of their careers wondering what happened to these hopes for that better political system. Among the next generation of scholars, Professor Goidel provides us with a lucent description of our problems and a prescription for that transformed and better political system. This work is for all of us who understand that our governmental system and way of life confront enormous problems and challenges yet still dream of better tomorrows.
— Anthony J. Eksterowicz, Professor Emeritus, James Madison University
Are we the people our Founders warned us about? Kirby Goidel lays out a compelling case for the sources of government failure in the United States. To no small extent, it resides with us and the institutional changes we made to our political system. These changes increased democratic controls, but also decreased accountability and long-range thinking, leading to a crisis-management approach to governing. In his ‘recovery plan,' Goidel challenges us to think creatively about institutional and constitutional reform to preserve the Republic—before it is too late.
— Ronald Keith Gaddie, author, Regulating Wetland Protection: Environmental Federalism and the States
"Political Horizons: Technology led to political gridlock," an Advocate article about Kirby Goidel and the book in the http://theadvocate.com/columnists/7901480-55/political-horizons-technology-led-to• The only recent work weaves the intentions of the Founding Fathers, political psychology, economic inequality, and government gridlock into a single interrelated whole.• Challenges readers to think creatively about institutional and constitutional reform• Includes a point-by-point plan for democratic reform• Provocative, jargon-free style ideal for stimulating classroom discussion in Introduction to American Government, Public Policy, and Public Opinion courses