Captured
Captured

Author: Sheldon Whitehouse

Publisher: New Press, The

Published: 2017-02-21

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1620972085

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A U.S. senator, leading the fight against money in politics, chronicles the long shadow corporate power has cast over our democracy In Captured, U.S. Senator and former federal prosecutor Sheldon Whitehouse offers an eye-opening take on what corporate influence looks like today from the Senate Floor, adding a first-hand perspective to Jane Mayer’s Dark Money. Americans know something is wrong in their government. Senator Whitehouse combines history, legal scholarship, and personal experiences to provide the first hands-on, comprehensive explanation of what's gone wrong, exposing multiple avenues through which our government has been infiltrated and disabled by corporate powers. Captured reveals an original oversight by the Founders, and shows how and why corporate power has exploited that vulnerability: to strike fear in elected representatives who don’t “get right” by threatening million-dollar "dark money" election attacks (a threat more effective and less expensive than the actual attack); to stack the judiciary—even the Supreme Court—in "business-friendly" ways; to "capture” the administrative agencies meant to regulate corporate behavior; to undermine the civil jury, the Constitution's last bastion for ordinary citizens; and to create a corporate "alternate reality" on public health and safety issues like climate change. Captured shows that in this centuries-long struggle between corporate power and individual liberty, we can and must take our American government back into our own hands.

The Education of a Senator
The Education of a Senator

Author: Everett McKinley Dirksen

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780252024146

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Recently discovered in the archives of the Dirksen Congressional Center, this is the memoir Senator Dirksen was writing at the time of this death in 1969. Covering the years of his boyhood through his election to the senate in 1950, it reveals the foundation of a great public servant in the making. His gravel-voiced warmth and wisdom come through on every page.

Credible Threat
Credible Threat

Author: Ken Fite

Publisher:

Published: 2021-12-12

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13:

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They're going to assassinate the president. Can Blake Jordan stop them? After he's fired from the Department of Domestic Counterterrorism, former agent Blake Jordan heads to DC for President-elect Keller's inauguration. But there are men in power who won't let that happen. When Keller asks Blake to create an off-the-books black ops team to stop terrorists, he refuses. But when someone tries to take Blake out of the picture, he learns of a plot to assassinate Keller. If he wants to stop the killers, Blake must form a team to save his friend. But the terrorists have something far more sinister planned... and it can't be stopped because it's already been done. CREDIBLE THREAT is a fast-paced thriller you'll be reading late into the night. Here's what readers are saying... ★★★★★ "It drew me in, I could not put it down." ★★★★★ "Well crafted, full of twists and turns." ★★★★★ "...a real page-turner." ★★★★★ "I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller." ★★★★★ "Read in one sitting, couldn't put it down." ★★★★★ "It held my attention beginning to end." ★★★★★ "...great storytelling." ★★★★★ "Fast-paced, highly recommended!" ★★★★★ "You won't want to put this book down." ★★★★★ "A great book in the Blake Jordan series!" Are you ready for a great story? Start reading now.

Grounded
Grounded

Author: Jon Tester

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 0062977504

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An inspiring and eye-opening memoir showing how Democrats can reconnect with rural and red-state voters, from Montana’s three-term democratic senator Senator Jon Tester is a rare voice in Congress. He is the only United States senator who manages a full-time job outside of the Senate—as a farmer. But what has really come to distinguish Tester in the Senate is his commitment to accountability, his ability to stand up to Donald Trump, and his success in, time and again, winning red state voters back to the Democratic Party. In Grounded, Tester shares his early life, his rise in the Democratic party, his vision for helping rural America, and his strategies for reaching red state voters. Leaning deeply into lessons on the value of authenticity and hard work that he learned growing up on his family’s 1,800-acre farm near the small town of Big Sandy, Montana—the same farm he continues to work today with his wife, Sharla—Tester has made his political career a testament to crossing the divides of class and geography. The media and Democrats too often discount rural people as Trump supporters; Tester knows better. His voice is vital to the public discourse as we seek to understand the issues that are important to rural and working-class America in not just the 2020 election but also for years to come. A heartfelt and inspiring memoir from a courageous voice, Grounded shows us that the biggest threat to our democracy isn’t a president who has no moral compass. It’s politicians who don’t understand the value of accountability and hard work. Tester demonstrates that if American democracy is to survive, we must put our trust in the values that keep us grounded.

The Senate
The Senate

Author: Daniel Wirls

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 2021-09-23

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0813946913

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In this lively analysis, Daniel Wirls examines the Senate in relation to our other institutions of government and the constitutional system as a whole, exposing the role of the "world’s greatest deliberative body" in undermining effective government and maintaining white supremacy in America. As Wirls argues, from the founding era onward, the Senate constructed for itself an exceptional role in the American system of government that has no firm basis in the Constitution. This self-proclaimed exceptional status is part and parcel of the Senate’s problematic role in the governmental process over the past two centuries, a role shaped primarily by the combination of equal representation among states and the filibuster, which set up the Senate’s clash with modern democracy and effective government and has contributed to the contemporary underrepresentation of minority members. As he explains, the Senate’s architecture, self-conception, and resulting behavior distort rather than complement democratic governance and explain the current gridlock in Washington, D.C. If constitutional changes to our institutions are necessary for better governance, then how should the Senate be altered to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem? This book provides one answer.

The Gingrich Senators
The Gingrich Senators

Author: Sean M. Theriault

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0199307474

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The Senate of the mid twentieth century, which was venerated by journalists, historians, and senators alike, is today but a distant memory. Electioneering on the Senate floor, playing games with the legislative process, and questioning your fellow senators' motives have become commonplace. In this book, noted political scientist Sean Theriault documents the Senate's demise over the last 30 years by showing how one group of senators has been at the forefront of this transformation. He calls this group the "Gingrich Senators" and defines them as Republican senators who previously served in the House after 1978, the year of Newt Gingrich's first election to the House. He shows how the Gingrich Senators are more conservative, more likely to engage in tactics that obstruct the legislative process, and more likely to oppose Democratic presidents than even their fellow other Republicans. Phil Gramm, Rick Santorum, Jim DeMint, and Tom Coburn are just four examples of the group that has includes 40 total senators and 22 currently serving senators. Theriault first documents the ideological distinctiveness of the Gingrich Senators and examines possible explanations for it. He then shows how the Gingrich Senators behave as partisan warriors, which has radically transformed the way the Senate operates as an institution, by using cutthroat tactics, obstructionism, and legislative games. He concludes the book by examining the fate of the Gingrich Senators and the future of the U.S. Senate.

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate
Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

Author: Al Franken

Publisher: Twelve

Published: 2017-05-30

Total Pages: 523

ISBN-13: 1455540439

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From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum -- comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that. "Flips the classic born-in-a-shack rise to political office tale on its head. I skipped meals to read this book - also unusual - because every page was funny. It made me deliriously happy." -- Louise Erdrich, The New York Times This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect. It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it. It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast. In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics. Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy

Author: Arthur Herman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 0684836254

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A daring--and controversial--second look at Senator Joseph McCarthy that declares that many of his notorious accusations were actually true. 16-page photo insert.