The Cure for Our Broken Political Process
The Cure for Our Broken Political Process

Author: Sol Erdman

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 159797644X

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Record numbers of Americans fear that our political process is broken--for good reason. Our nation faces unprecedented challenges, yet our politicians spend most of their energy attacking one another. All the while, no one in public life has offered a practical way to neutralize the bitter partisanship that paralyzes Washington. The Cure for Our Broken Political Process fills that void. The authors show exactly how concerned citizens can get politicians from all camps to negotiate genuine solutions to the most vexing issues. Sol Erdman and Lawrence Susskind base their case on their thirty years of experience in resolving political conflict. The Cure begins with hard evidence that our country could work out practical solutions to nearly every major issue that now divides us, solutions that all sides could support. Why, then, don’t our politicians seek out those solutions? The authors debunk all the accepted explanations and then uncover the real reason. By telling the story of a concerned citizen who runs for Congress, the book shows that two basic features of our elections virtually compel politicians to bicker endlessly over major problems. So, as long as our elections work as they do today, our lawmakers will keep on fighting, leaving the critical issues unresolved. The authors then spell out how to redesign elections so that politicians would win only if they produced useful results--only if they negotiated practical solutions to pressing problems. The book concludes with a step-by-step plan proving that ordinary citizens have the power to bring about these changes. To anyone who fears that our country’s future is in peril, The Cure offers a realistic path to a political process they can genuinely believe in.

America's Bitter Pill
America's Bitter Pill

Author: Steven Brill

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2015-01-05

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0812996968

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • “A tour de force . . . a comprehensive and suitably furious guide to the political landscape of American healthcare . . . persuasive, shocking.”—The New York Times America’s Bitter Pill is Steven Brill’s acclaimed book on how the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was written, how it is being implemented, and, most important, how it is changing—and failing to change—the rampant abuses in the healthcare industry. It’s a fly-on-the-wall account of the titanic fight to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America’s largest, most dysfunctional industry. It’s a penetrating chronicle of how the profiteering that Brill first identified in his trailblazing Time magazine cover story continues, despite Obamacare. And it is the first complete, inside account of how President Obama persevered to push through the law, but then failed to deal with the staff incompetence and turf wars that crippled its implementation. But by chance America’s Bitter Pill ends up being much more—because as Brill was completing this book, he had to undergo urgent open-heart surgery. Thus, this also becomes the story of how one patient who thinks he knows everything about healthcare “policy” rethinks it from a hospital gurney—and combines that insight with his brilliant reporting. The result: a surprising new vision of how we can fix American healthcare so that it stops draining the bank accounts of our families and our businesses, and the federal treasury. Praise for America’s Bitter Pill “An energetic, picaresque, narrative explanation of much of what has happened in the last seven years of health policy . . . [Brill] has pulled off something extraordinary.”—The New York Times Book Review “A thunderous indictment of what Brill refers to as the ‘toxicity of our profiteer-dominated healthcare system.’ ”—Los Angeles Times “A sweeping and spirited new book [that] chronicles the surprisingly juicy tale of reform.”—The Daily Beast “One of the most important books of our time.”—Walter Isaacson “Superb . . . Brill has achieved the seemingly impossible—written an exciting book about the American health system.”—The New York Review of Books

Our Broken Elections
Our Broken Elections

Author: John Fund

Publisher: Encounter Books

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1641772093

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Behind the deeply contentious 2020 election stands a real story of a broken election process. Election fraud that alters election outcomes and dilutes legitimate votes occurs all too often, as is the bungling of election bureaucrats. Our election process is full of vulnerabilities that can be — and are — taken advantage of, raising questions about, and damaging public confidence in, the legitimacy of the outcome of elections. This book explores the reality of the fraud and bureaucratic errors and mistakes that should concern all Americans and offers recommendations and solutions to fix those problems.

Our Broken America
Our Broken America

Author: Jackie Cushman

Publisher: Center Street

Published: 2019-09-17

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 154608486X

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Discover what is needed to save America from the looming menace of fake news and political polarization. We are a country in crisis. America is extremely politically polarized. It's almost impossible to have a civil discussion about politics and political issues without emotions overflowing and people erupting, whether within your circle of friends, family, or just watching it happen on the news. Gone are the days of real, unbiased, fact-based news -- now our airwaves and device screens are dominated by opinion labelled as news.The idea of our nation marching toward civil war is very real. You can watch CNN or FOX News and think you are on two different planets. And the sheer vitriol you watch is reflective of the same feeling Democrats and Republicans -- and everyone in between -- are feeling throughout this country. It's more important than ever to find common ground. Throughout our history, our most inspirational leaders have believed that our future was bright, that our foundation was different, and that the American people would rise to the challenge. Together we can stop ranting and raving and save our country from the dangers of political polarization.Our Broken America is a wake-up call for our nation. Together, we can change politics and save our nation.

The Solution
The Solution

Author: Michael M. Stockdell

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2016-06-25

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1524508144

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Our current political system puts too much power into the hands of the few and often produces results that dont work. The Solution proposes a plan that restricts the size and scope of the federal government while increasing the direct influence of the people. The goal is to make government simpler with full public accountability. The book is divided into four sections. Two sections describe the various reasons why big government programs dont work and refute the reasons often cited for why they should. Parts three and four propose my notion of a fix to the political system: first, a number of constitutional amendments aimed at making government function similar to what the founders intended and yet are more modern and, second, policy recommendations that repair and replace nonfunctional programs and deal with a number of existing political and social issues.

Multi-Party Dispute Resolution, Democracy and Decision-Making
Multi-Party Dispute Resolution, Democracy and Decision-Making

Author: Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-05-15

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 1351916513

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The articles selected for this volume draw on game theory, political science, psychology, sociology and anthropology to consider how the process of dispute resolution is altered, challenged and made more complex by the presence of multiple parties and/or multiple issues. The volume explores issues of coalition formation, defection, collaboration, commitments, voting practices, and joint decision making in settings of increasing human complexity. Also included are examples of concrete uses of deliberative democracy processes taken from new applications of complex dispute resolution theory and practice. The selected essays represent the latest theoretical advances and challenges in the field and demonstrate attempts to use dispute resolution theory in a wide variety of settings such as political decision making and policy formation; regulatory matters; environmental disputes; healthcare; community disputes; constitutional formation; and in many other controversial issues in the polity.

The Politics Industry
The Politics Industry

Author: Katherine M. Gehl

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2020-06-23

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1633699242

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Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

The Politics of Gratitude
The Politics of Gratitude

Author: Mark T. Mitchell

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1597977381

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Explores the need for a new vision of postpartisan politics

Healing the Heart of Democracy
Healing the Heart of Democracy

Author: Parker J. Palmer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1118970365

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Hope for American democracy in an era of deep divisions In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to do it. This timely, courageous and practical work—intensely personal as well as political—is not about them, "those people" in Washington D.C., or in our state capitals, on whom we blame our political problems. It's about us, "We the People," and what we can do in everyday settings like families, neighborhoods, classrooms, congregations and workplaces to resist divide-and-conquer politics and restore a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." In the same compelling, inspiring prose that has made him a bestselling author, Palmer explores five "habits of the heart" that can help us restore democracy's foundations as we nurture them in ourselves and each other: An understanding that we are all in this together An appreciation of the value of "otherness" An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways A sense of personal voice and agency A capacity to create community Healing the Heart of Democracy is an eloquent and empowering call for "We the People" to reclaim our democracy. The online journal Democracy & Education called it "one of the most important books of the early 21st Century." And Publishers Weekly, in a Starred Review, said "This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience that will benefit from discussing it."