Bad for democracy
Subtitle: how the Presidency undermines the power of the people
By: Dana D. Nelson.
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Minneapolis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 263
ISBN-13: 9780816656776; 9780816656783
Subjects: Executive power -- United States; Presidents -- United States; Democracy -- United States
Description: "Throughout our history, Americans have been simultaneously inspired and seduced by the American presidency and concerned about the misuse of presidential power - from the time of Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR to Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush - as a grave threat to the United States. In Bad for Democracy, Dana D. Nelson goes beyond blaming particular presidents for jeopardizing the delicate balance of the Constitution to argue that it is the office of the presidency itself that endangers the great American experiment." "This urgent book reveals the futility of placing all of our hopes for the future in the American president and encourages citizens to create a politics of deliberation, action, and agency. Arguing for a return of the balance of power - both symbolically and in practice - to all the branches of government, Nelson ultimately calls on Americans to change our own course and imagine a democracy that we, the people, lead together."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : the people v. presidentialism; title: How the president becomes a superhero; title: Voting and the incredibly shrinking citizen; title: Presidential war powers and politics as war; title: Going corporate with the unitary executive; title: Conclusion : reclaiming democratic power for ourselves.