Publication date:
12 December 2013Length of book:
232 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442226500
America’s Failing Experiment: How We the People Have Become the Problem, makes the controversial claim that the American political system suffers from too much democracy. An accomplished public policy expert coeditor of the Journal Survey Practice, Kirby Goidel argues that our elected officials are overly responsive to public opinion which is often poorly informed, incoherent, and uncertain. The result is a more polarized political system, rising inequality, and institutional gridlock. These concerns are not new but take on deeper political significance in a digital age where information flows more quickly and opportunities for feedback are virtually unlimited. If the diagnosis is too much democracy, the counterintuitive solution runs against our cultural norms—less citizen involvement, greater discretion for political elites, and greater collective responsibility.
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.