Neither Liberal nor Conservative


Book Description

Congress is crippled by ideological conflict. The political parties are more polarized today than at any time since the Civil War. Americans disagree, fiercely, about just about everything, from terrorism and national security, to taxes and government spending, to immigration and gay marriage. Well, American elites disagree fiercely. But average Americans do not. This, at least, was the position staked out by Philip Converse in his famous essay on belief systems, which drew on surveys carried out during the Eisenhower Era to conclude that most Americans were innocent of ideology. In Neither Liberal nor Conservative, Donald Kinder and Nathan Kalmoe argue that ideological innocence applies nearly as well to the current state of American public opinion. Real liberals and real conservatives are found in impressive numbers only among those who are deeply engaged in political life. The ideological battles between American political elites show up as scattered skirmishes in the general public, if they show up at all. If ideology is out of reach for all but a few who are deeply and seriously engaged in political life, how do Americans decide whom to elect president; whether affirmative action is good or bad? Kinder and Kalmoe offer a persuasive group-centered answer. Political preferences arise less from ideological differences than from the attachments and antagonisms of group life.




Resisting Reagan


Book Description

"Though more a study of US interest groups and social movements, provides useful information on US policy toward Central America. Somewhat sympathetic toward the peace movements' goals and to their definition of 'harassment.'"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57. http://www.loc.gov/hlas




The Radical Center


Book Description

Record numbers of Americans describe themselves as “independents” and reject the conventional agendas of Left and Right. In this widely acclaimed book, Ted Halstead and Michael Lind explain why today’s ideologies and institutions are so ill-suited to the Information Age, and offer a groundbreaking blueprint for updating all sectors of America society. Taking on partisans and experts on both sides of the political divide, they propose far-reaching reforms for the way we provide health and retirement security, collect taxes, organize elections, enforce civil rights, and educate our children. Twice before the United States has dramatically reconfigured itself, shifting from an agrarian to an industrial society after the Civil War and successfully adapting to the massive technological and demographic changes of the early twentieth century during the New Deal era. Uniting a sweeping historical vision with bold policy proposals, The Radical Center shows us how to reinvent our nation once again so that all Americans can reap the benefits of the Information Age.




Right of Center America


Book Description

Right of Center America describes where America's federal budget and national debt are today and details how they can be brought under control. This book is not about ideological battles. It is not about the Right vs. Left. It does not rehash the same tired arguments about spending reductions versus tax increases. Instead it provides simple, detailed solutions to reduce the federal budget and national debt. These solutions involve both decreasing some and increasing other federal department's budgets and cutting some and increasing other taxes. Some recommendations you might have heard before, but most are new ideas, especially when dealing with America's biggest challenges.In addition to addressing the federal budget and national debt, Right of Center America also solves the biggest challenges facing America.1) An energy plan that drastically reduces America's dependency on foreign oil AND idles all coal, petroleum, and gas fueled power plants over the next 45 years.2) An education plan ensures EVERY American has access to the best possible education.3) Health Care reform that actually decreases the COST of Health Care by more than 20 percent and provides insurance coverage for those Americans that cannot afford it.4) Economic and tax policy that will spur long-term investment in AMERICAN companies.5) Entitlement reform that GUARANTEES safety-net programs, Social Security, and Medicare benefits.6) A reigning in of defense and foreign policy spending.7) Common sense immigration reform with a secure border and work-to-citizenship visas.8) Election and judicial reform that increase government transparency and turnover.Product Description:How can the U.S. decrease its national debt by 60 percent over the next twenty years while solving the most pressing challenges of today? Many books explain the problems presented by the current U.S. fiscal federal budget crisis, but none provide a comprehensive proposal to correct it. Right of Center America not only details the federal budget, it provides a specific plan that eliminates the federal deficit and reduces the national debt. The book details a strategy of how federal programs should be evaluated and the resulting analysis of this review.Right of Center America shows what America can do when it is fiscally responsible. Detailed, innovative plans are presented that would fix America's biggest challenges. Entitlements are made solvent. Health care costs are reduced and insurance coverage is provided for the poor. Every American is guaranteed the best public education by empowering both the teacher and the parent. Illegal immigration is curtailed. An energy plan is detailed that drastically reduces the use of petroleum and coal over the next 30 years. A fiscally responsible foreign policy is introduced. Common sense economic, tax, election, and judicial reforms are presented.These challenges are solved while reducing the deficit and without massive tax increases. Nowhere else will you find such creative, simple, and feasible solutions. Right of Center America is written for those Americans who are not ideologically tied to a political party. This book focuses on fiscal matters and does not delve into social issues. This biggest problems facing America today, the problems that will cripple the next generation of Americans, are fiscal issues.With a national debt exceeding $13 trillion, an annual federal budget deficit close to $500 billion, and interest payments approaching $500 billion per year, this book is a must read.If you only read one chapter of my book, please read chapter seven. I provide detailed examples on how to reduce the cost of health care by a conservative 21% without the need for federally managed health care system. In fact, my plan would actually result in a reduction of health care costs by more than a third, but I only use worst-case scenarios in my figures. More importantly, I believe this could be a bipartisan plan that both parties could support.




Left in the Center


Book Description

Daniel Soyer's history of the Liberal Party of New York State, Left in the Center, shows the surprising relationship between Democratic Socialism and mainstream American politics. Beginning in 1944 and lasting until 2002, the Liberal Party offered voters an ideological seal of approval and played the role of strategic kingmaker in the electoral politics of New York State. The party helped elect presidents, governors, senators, and mayors, and its platform reflected its founders' social democratic principles. In practical politics, the Liberal Party's power resided in its capacity to steer votes to preferred Democrats or Republicans with a reasonable chance of victory. This uneasy balance between principle and pragmatism, which ultimately proved impossible to maintain, is at the heart of the dramatic political story presented in Left in the Center. The Liberal Party, the longest-lived of New York's small parties, began as a means for anti-Communist social democrats to have an impact on the politics and policy of New York City, Albany, and Washington, DC. It provided a political voice for labor activists, independent liberals, and pragmatic social democrats. Although the party devolved into what some saw as a cynical patronage machine, it remained a model for third-party power and for New York's influential Conservative and, later, the Working Families parties. With an active period ranging from the successful senatorial career of Jacob Javits to the mayoralties of John Lindsay and Rudy Giuliani, the Liberal Party effectively shaped the politics and policy of New York. The practical gains and political cost of that complicated trade-off is at the heart of Left in the Center.







Conflict in Central America


Book Description




Democracy and the Left


Book Description

Although inequality in Latin America ranks among the worst in the world, it has notably declined over the last decade, offset by improvements in health care and education, enhanced programs for social assistance, and increases in the minimum wage. In Democracy and the Left, Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens argue that the resurgence of democracy in Latin America is key to this change. In addition to directly affecting public policy, democratic institutions enable left-leaning political parties to emerge, significantly influencing the allocation of social spending on poverty and inequality. But while democracy is an important determinant of redistributive change, it is by no means the only factor. Drawing on a wealth of data, Huber and Stephens present quantitative analyses of eighteen countries and comparative historical analyses of the five most advanced social policy regimes in Latin America, showing how international power structures have influenced the direction of their social policy. They augment these analyses by comparing them to the development of social policy in democratic Portugal and Spain. The most ambitious examination of the development of social policy in Latin America to date, Democracy and the Left shows that inequality is far from intractable—a finding with crucial policy implications worldwide.




Central America in the New Millennium


Book Description

Most non-Central Americans think of the narrow neck between Mexico and Colombia in terms of dramatic past revolutions and lauded peace agreements, or sensational problems of gang violence and natural disasters. In this volume, the contributors examine regional circumstances within frames of democratization and neoliberalism, as they shape lived experiences of transition. The authors--anthropologists and social scientists from the United States, Europe, and Central America--argue that the process of regions and nations "disappearing" (being erased from geopolitical notice) is integral to upholding a new, post-Cold War world order--and that a new framework for examining political processes must be accessible, socially collaborative, and in dialogue with the lived processes of suffering and struggle engaged by people in Central America and the world in the name of democracy.




Political Movements and Violence in Central America


Book Description

This book offers an indepth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressive regimes in Central America for the three decades beginning in 1960, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala. It examines both urban and rural groups as well as both nonviolent social movements and revolutionary movements. It studies the impact of state violence on contentious political movements as well as defends the political process model for studying such movements.