Feingold: A New Democratic Party
Author and essayist Horwitt's latest is a love letter to Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, the lawmaker whose political life began with a seat on his high school student council (where his "leadership reflected both his passion for the democratic ideals he had absorbed from his family, and his identification with American civil rights and the political heroes who sought to turn those ideals into reality") and now "represents the progressive side of the Democratic divide more clearly and authentically than any successful politician on the national stage." It would be easy to fault Horwitt for his naiveté ("With Wisconsin progressives, efficient government and fiscal prudence were not empty slogans; they were simply the way government was supposed to work. And honesty and high ethical standards were practical, indispensable ingredients of efficient government because they curbed tendencies toward cronyism, graft, and other forms of corruption."), but his intent here seems to be one of preaching to the choir. In that case, he succeeds with this light, one-sided polit-bio.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.