Working congress
Subtitle: a guide for senators, representatives, and citizens
By: edited by Robert Mann
Series: Media and public affairs; Media & public affairs
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 120
ISBN-13: 9780807157374
Subjects: Political culture; United States. Congress; United States; Courtesy; Partisanship; Political parties; Right and left (Political science)
Other titles: Guide for senators, representatives, and citizens
Description: "In 1964, as the polarizing Civil Rights Act made its way through the House and Senate, and Congress navigated one of the most tumultuous eras in American history, a Harris Poll put the institution's approval rating at 60 percent. Why then, fifty years later, has the public's approval of Congress eroded to an all-time low of 10 percent? Working Congress: A Guide for Senators, Representatives, and Citizens seeks to isolate the reasons for Congress's staggering decline in public opinion, and to propose remedies to reverse the grave dysfunction in America's most important political institution. Aided by the input of retired members of Congress from both major parties, editor Robert Mann and his fellow contributors identify paralyzing partisan rancor as perhaps the most significant reason for the American public's declining support of its main representative body. The lack of mutual trust within Congress reflects (and creates) the suspicion and animosity of the great majority of Americans. Working Congress argues that members of Congress must find a path to cooperation if they are to function as the representative institution the Founders intended."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / Robert Mann; title: What's the problem with Congress? / Mickey Edwards; title: The ascent of bipartisanship to the Congressional reform agenda / Ross K. Baker; title: The challenge of bipartisanship: a historical perspective / Frances E. Lee; title: Congress and electoral reform in the early twenty-first century / Brian L. Fife; title: Can't we all just get along? Civility and bipartisanship in Congress / Susan Herbst; title: Is persuasion a lost art? How members of Congress can stop shouting and start persuading / Mark Kennedy.