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Political Racket
by Martin L. Gross
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Ballantine Books (1996-05-21)
ISBN: 0345387775
EAN: 9780345387776
Binding/Media: Paperback - 261 pages
Edition: 1
Release Date: 1996-05-21
SKU: 031310015
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Softcover, no writing, firm binding, has some shelfwear to edges and corners, label remnant on the front and back, pages are crisp and clean. All items ship from a smoke-free home.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
CLEAN UP AMERICAN POLITICS--AND OUR POLITICIANS!
We blame builders if a home is badly constructed. We blame automakers if a car has to be recalled. But in the case of government, we put the blame everywhere except where it belongs--on the heads of American politicians of both parties, those who make the laws at federal, state, and local levels.
Theres no doubt about the mess: high taxes, government waste in multibillions, a weakened middle class, loss of our manufacturing base, trade deficits, corrupt campaign financing, the failure of welfare, and tolerance for corporate high jinks.
The political system that worked so well for America is now structurally broken. And the entrenched political class, with its deceptions, ignorance, and corruption, is the villain. Meanwhile the parties have become trade unions for self-serving professional politicians.
In The Political Racket, Martin L. Gross, bestselling author of The Government Racket: Washington Waste From A to Z and A Call for Revolution: How Washington is Strangling America, puts American politicians under a microscope for the first time and finds them sadly lacking. His Bill of Indictment against our politicians includes the following:
* They lie so often that they seem pathological--yet they continue to fool the voters.
* They raise too much money, and they trade favors with lobbyists and special interests to get that money.
* Most of them are puppets of their parties and do not act independently for the people.
* A streak of moral turpitude too often runs through the political class.
* Their television ads are often masterpieces of lies and distortions.
* Their two-party system is set up to thwart independents and third parties.
* Their egos damage their work, as some of them begin to believe they are übermenschen.
* They refuse to back term limits despite overwhelming public support for citizen-politicians.
* They have become part of the celebrity culture and too often pander to the media.
* They take advantage of weak conflict-of-interest laws to line their own pockets.
In this hard-hitting investigation, renowned journalist and political analyst Martin L. Gross exposes the secret world of American politicians and outlines a plan to totally reform the system and replace the political class with dedicated citizens.
MAKE POLITICIANS WORK FOR US, NOT FOR THEMSELVES!
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Amazon.com Review
The advent of Clinton second-term scandals having to do with questionable campaign fundraising makes this a timely offering from the author of The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z. Gross thumbs his nose at the current attempt at campaign spending reform being considered in Congress. He believes the McCain-Feingold-Thompson bill to be as being as inadequate as the post-Watergate reforms that brought us PACs, primarily because it doesn't substantially reduce the amount of money candidates are allowed to raise, and because candidates can opt out of the bill's details entirely (merely by deciding to pay higher rates for television ads and direct mailings). What Gross wants to do instead is enact term limits, hold all presidential primaries on the same day, and disband the Electoral College so that the President has to get an absolute majority of the nationwide popular vote to win office. (If, because of third and fourth party choices, nobody wins, there'd be a run-off between the two top vote getters twenty-eight days later.)
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