5.6 Mann & Ornstein (2012, 2013, 2016)
Mann, Thomas E. and Ornstein, Norman J. (2012 hardback; 2013 paperback with Preface & Afterword; 2016 Paperback with new Preface and new Afterword) It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism. New York: Basic Books.
Quick Look
Authors
Thomas Mann is the W. Averell Harriman Chair and senior fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution. He is a former executive director of the American Political Science Association. Norman Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of a weekly column for Roll Call, called "Congress Inside Out." Both are fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are co-authors of The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track. |
2012 Hardback
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2013 Paperback
(Additional Preface & Afterword) |
2016 Paperback
(New Preface & Afterword) |
This Resource’s Key Interpretations and Insights Related to the Purposes of This Website
This team--one center-left, one center-right--show that the gridlock in American politics is almost entirely the result of the "asymmetric" polarization instigated by far-right Republicans, not the center-left Obama administration.
1. While not despairing of the long-term prospects for our democracy, the authors sound the alarm that its present state presents a huge, unprecedented threat that must be dealt with immediately if the nation is going to regain health and survive. Their short book helps us take a much needed first step: seeing how and why the basic roots of the crisis have been misunderstood by large segments of our population.
2. In the first and third chapters Ornstein and Mann describe in some detail the more recent manifestations of the crisis, especially since the 2010 midterm election when the Tea Party moved to eliminate all the remaining moderates from the Republican Party and doubled down on efforts to obstruct everything the Obama administration was trying to accomplish.
3. In "Chapter 2: The Seeds of Dysfunction" the authors go back to trace the history of what they see as the deeper causes of crisis: (1) asymmetric polarization (the gradual development of the ideological extremism that co-opted the Republican Party beginning with the election of 1978--see the quote below), (2) the American media which, due to their inordinate desire to be seen as non-biased, has consistently misrepresented the polarization (as equally the responsibility of the Democrats--"false equivalence"), (3) the polarized, poisonous culture that has resulted from the first two, and (4) the destructive role played by the vastly increased amount of money in politics.
4. The second half of the book is devoted to the authors' suggestions about what will help resolve the crisis. (I will not try to summarize them here, other than to say that Ornstein and Mann deflate many of the popular suggestions and put forward some quite unique ones of their own. More about this is the forthcoming Highlights Review.)
This team--one center-left, one center-right--show that the gridlock in American politics is almost entirely the result of the "asymmetric" polarization instigated by far-right Republicans, not the center-left Obama administration.
1. While not despairing of the long-term prospects for our democracy, the authors sound the alarm that its present state presents a huge, unprecedented threat that must be dealt with immediately if the nation is going to regain health and survive. Their short book helps us take a much needed first step: seeing how and why the basic roots of the crisis have been misunderstood by large segments of our population.
2. In the first and third chapters Ornstein and Mann describe in some detail the more recent manifestations of the crisis, especially since the 2010 midterm election when the Tea Party moved to eliminate all the remaining moderates from the Republican Party and doubled down on efforts to obstruct everything the Obama administration was trying to accomplish.
3. In "Chapter 2: The Seeds of Dysfunction" the authors go back to trace the history of what they see as the deeper causes of crisis: (1) asymmetric polarization (the gradual development of the ideological extremism that co-opted the Republican Party beginning with the election of 1978--see the quote below), (2) the American media which, due to their inordinate desire to be seen as non-biased, has consistently misrepresented the polarization (as equally the responsibility of the Democrats--"false equivalence"), (3) the polarized, poisonous culture that has resulted from the first two, and (4) the destructive role played by the vastly increased amount of money in politics.
4. The second half of the book is devoted to the authors' suggestions about what will help resolve the crisis. (I will not try to summarize them here, other than to say that Ornstein and Mann deflate many of the popular suggestions and put forward some quite unique ones of their own. More about this is the forthcoming Highlights Review.)
Quotes from Text
(The most quoted sentence of this book [in bold red text] sums up the authors' diagnosis of the--all too little recognized--main cause of our political disfunction as it stood in 2011. and the other primary causes as they see them.)
"The disfunction that arises from the incompatibility of the U.S. constitutional system with parliamentary-type parties is compounded by the asymmetric polarization of those parties. Today's Republican Party, as we noted at the beginning of the book, is an insurgent outlier. It has become ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition, all but declaring war on the government. The Democratic Party, while no paragon of civic virtue, is more ideologically centered and diverse, protective of the government's role as it developed over the course of the last century, open to incremental changes in policy fashioned through bargaining with the Republicans, and less disposed to or adept at take-no-prisoners conflict between the parties. This asymmetry between the parties, which journalists and scholars often brush aside or whitewash in a quest for 'balance,' constitutes a huge obstacle to effective governance." (102-3--these are the last pages of "Part I: The Problem") (my emphases)
(The most quoted sentence of this book [in bold red text] sums up the authors' diagnosis of the--all too little recognized--main cause of our political disfunction as it stood in 2011. and the other primary causes as they see them.)
"The disfunction that arises from the incompatibility of the U.S. constitutional system with parliamentary-type parties is compounded by the asymmetric polarization of those parties. Today's Republican Party, as we noted at the beginning of the book, is an insurgent outlier. It has become ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition, all but declaring war on the government. The Democratic Party, while no paragon of civic virtue, is more ideologically centered and diverse, protective of the government's role as it developed over the course of the last century, open to incremental changes in policy fashioned through bargaining with the Republicans, and less disposed to or adept at take-no-prisoners conflict between the parties. This asymmetry between the parties, which journalists and scholars often brush aside or whitewash in a quest for 'balance,' constitutes a huge obstacle to effective governance." (102-3--these are the last pages of "Part I: The Problem") (my emphases)
Endorsements (2012)
"More than anytime in my lifetime, the United States is challenged at home and so is our place in the world. When Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein get together to sound a loud alarm about the way our political system is being torn apart, it's time to listen--and listen hard. Then the tough part--how do we restore some sense of common purpose, of working together to make our government work? Mann and Ornstein set out ways to rebuild political bridges, beginning right now. We better get to work." ~Paul A. Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. (back cover)
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2012 "The phrase 'essential reading' does not begin to get at the importance of this passionate warning by two of our very best political scientists about our nation's capacity to govern itself. Mann and Ornstein sweep aside the timid conventional wisdom to inform Americans that our problems are even worse than we think they are. It is absolutely vital that this book's findings and message enter the consciousness and consciences of journalists, politicians, and citizens who care about the future of our republic." ~E. J. Dionne, author of Our Divided Political Heart. (back cover)
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"If you want to understand what's happening in Washington, you really have to read this book by two impartial scholars that dissect how we got here and where we are likely to go." Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, October 13, 2013.
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Endorsements (2013)
There were six pages of endorsements in this edition. Here are just a few:
"The Congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein have been making waves with a new book acknowledging a truth that, until now, was unmentionable in polite circles. They say our political dysfunction is largely because of the transformation of the Republican Party into an extremist force that is 'dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.' You can't get cooperation to serve the national interest when one side of the divide sees no distinction between the national interest and its own partisan triumph." ~Paul Krugman, New York Times
"[It] is encouraging to see two longtime Washington wise men--Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, sensible, nonpartisan scholars and impeccably credentialed authors of good advice that no one ever follows--come out with a full-blown polemic against the Republicans who have steered Congress off a cliff." ~Timothy Egan, New York Times "A searing indictment of the Republican Party's drift to the extreme right." ~J.J. Goldberg, The Forward (back cover) |
"Reading this book is a little like quaffing a double espresso on an empty stomach--It's a jolt. For this reader it was a welcome jolt...Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein have been Washington fixtures for three decades. They are two of the brightest, best informed and most scholarly students of our politics...[As] Mann and Ornstein document so vividly, at a time when only good government could help us rediscover our footing as a nation, our Grand Old Party defines itself as the party of anti-government." ~Robert G. Kaiser, Washington Post
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"[Mann and ornstein have] come to their conclusions more in sorrow than in anger, with the bona fides of gentlemen who would rather not have to pick sides in a partisan fight....In keeping with their constructive role, Mann and Ornstein make a variety of proposals for 'fixing' American politics, ranging from holding elections on weekends to calling out political falsehoods on the front pages of newspapers. Their ideas are reasonable and, in a few cases, novel." ~George Packer, The New Yorker
"[Mann and Ornstein] have done the public a great service--and have been much brave than many in the media, the think tanks or Congress--in using their personal credibility to clearly describe what has happened to American politics in recent years, and who is primarily to blame." ~Ezra Klein, New York Review of Books |
Endorsements (2016)
With the exception of the one below, all the five pages of endorsements in this edition were reprints from the 2013 edition.
"When future historians write about the fall of the American Republic, they will of course lay primary blame on the extremists of the right, who set out deliberately to destroy it. But they will also lay heavy blame on all the 'centrists' and Serious People who not only refused to admit what was happening, but ostracized and silenced anyone who tried to point it out." ~ Paul Krugman, New York Times, Conscience of a Liberal blog
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for this resource. (Forthcoming) |
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