Lee Drutman

A compelling case for large-scale electoral reform.American democracy is at an impasse. After years of zero-sum partisan trench warfare, our political institutions are deteriorating. Our norms are collapsing. Democrats and Republicans no longer merely argue; they cut off contact with each other. In short, the two-party system is breaking our democracy, and driving us all crazy.Deftly weaving together history, democratic theory, and cutting edge political science research, Drutman tells the story of how American politics became so toxic, why the country is trapped in a doom loop of escalating two-party warfare, and why it is destroying the shared sense of fairness and legitimacy on which democracy depends. He argues that the only way out is to have more partisanship-more parties, to short-circuit the zero-sum nature of binary partisan conflict. American democracy was once stable because the two parties held within them multiple factions, which made it possible to assemble flexible majorities and kept the temperature of political combat from overheating. But as conservative Southern Democrats and liberal Northeastern Republicans disappeared, partisan conflict flattened and pulled apart. Once the parties fully separated, toxic partisanship took over. With the two parties divided over competing visions of national identity, Democrats and Republicans no longersee each other as opponents, but as enemies. And the more the conflict escalates, the shakier our democracy feels.Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop makes a compelling case for large-scale electoral reform--importantly, reform not requiring a constitutional amendment-that would give America more parties, making American democracy more representative, more responsive, and ultimately more stable.

Corporate lobbyists are everywhere in Washington. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 represent business. The largest companies now have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them. How did American businesses become so invested in politics? And what does all their money buy? Drawing on extensive data and original interviews with corporate lobbyists, The Business of America is Lobbying provides a fascinating and detailed picture of what corporations do in Washington, why they do it, and why it matters. Since the 1970s, a wave of new government regulations and declining economic conditions has mobilized business leaders, and companies have developed new political capacities. Managers soon began to see public policy as an opportunity, not just a threat. . Ever since, corporate lobbying has become more pervasive, more proactive, and more particularistic. Lee Drutman argues that lobbyists drove this development by helping managers see the importance of politics and how proactive and aggressive engagement could help companies' bottom lines. Politics is messy, unpredictable, and more competitive than ever, but the growth of lobbying has driven several important changes that have increased the power of business in American politics. And now, the costs of effective lobbying have risen to a level that only larger businesses can typically afford. Lively and engaging, rigorous and nuanced, this will change how we think about lobbying-and how we might reform it.

Giant corporations wield excessive influence over our lives, often with frightening environmental destruction, political corruption, increased polarization of wealth, and stagnating wages and benefits. The rampant epidemic of accounting fraud, tax avoidance, outsourcing and war profiteering in recent years has reconfirmed the widespread conviction that corporations are getting increasingly out of control, with potentially dangerous consequences for the communities where they operate, their own employees and even for their owners, the shareholders.The People’s Business tells us what we can do to fight back. Drutman and Cray show how corporations achieved their current privileged position and offer a comprehensive approach for reforming them so that they serve as engines of public prosperity, rather than as the tools of private plunder. They present recommendations from the prestigious members of the Citizen Works Commission on Corporate Reform—which includes such notable members as Ralph Nader, David Korten, Herman Daly, Medea Benjamin, and many others—to outline a clear-headed plan of action Get corporations out of politicsEstablish truly public-minded regulation of corporate behaviorCombat unfair market domination by a handful of large corporationsCrack down on corporate crimeChallenge the corporate claim to constitutional rightsBolstered with relevant history and recent examples, The People’s Business details immediate measures for effectively reforming the corporation.

If you think wealth is concentrated in the United States, just wait till you look at the data on campaign spending.In the 2010 election cycle, 26,783 individuals (or slightly less than one in ten thousand Americans) each contributed more than $10,000 to federal political campaigns. Combined, these donors spent $774 million. That's 24.3% of the total from individuals to politicians, parties, PACs, and independent expenditure groups. Together, they would fill only two-thirds of the 41,222 seats at Nationals Park the baseball field two miles from the U.S. Capitol. When it comes to politics, they are The One Percent of the One Percent.

American democracy is broken, but partisanship alone is not to blame. Political scientist Lee Drutman places our two-party system instead at the center of the American democratic crisis. Of course, partisan conflict plays a role, forcing voters to choose between a party that they might dislike and another that is far worse. But the two party system creates this corrosive dynamic. And the results of this system are dire: more partisan division, low political legitimacy, and high citizen disaffection.This is how democracies crumble. The way to save democracy, Drutman argues, is to create more and better political parties through electoral reform and fusion voting.We Need More Parties features responses to Drutman from Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell, political scientists Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld, political theorist and former candidate for Massachusetts governor Danielle Allen, and others.The issue also includes essays on American democracy and the question of political legitimacy: Project 2025 and abuses of executive power, the anointing of J. D. Vance and the liberal embrace of "reasonable conservatives”, the politics of grief in rural America, and more.Contributors: Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Danielle Allen, Deepak Bhargava, Elizabeth Catte, Kevin Donovan, Lee Drutman, James Goodwin, Arianna Jiménez, Josh Lerner, Cerin Lindgrensavage, Bob Master, Maurice Mitchell, Joel Rogers, Sam Rosenfeld, Daniel Schlozman, Doran Schrantz, Ian Shapiro, Honora Spicer, Sunaura Taylor, Grant Tudor, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, and David Walsh

Excellent Book