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Liberty and Coercion - The Paradox of American Government from the Founding to the Present (Paperback, Revised edition)
Loot Price: R541
Discovery Miles 5 410
You Save: R101
(16%)
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Liberty and Coercion - The Paradox of American Government from the Founding to the Present (Paperback, Revised edition)
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List price R642
Loot Price R541
Discovery Miles 5 410
You Save R101 (16%)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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American governance is burdened by a paradox. On the one hand,
Americans don't want "big government" meddling in their lives; on
the other hand, they have repeatedly enlisted governmental help to
impose their views regarding marriage, abortion, religion, and
schooling on their neighbors. These contradictory stances on the
role of public power have paralyzed policymaking and generated
rancorous disputes about government's legitimate scope. How did we
reach this political impasse? Historian Gary Gerstle, looking at
two hundred years of U.S. history, argues that the roots of the
current crisis lie in two contrasting theories of power that the
Framers inscribed in the Constitution. One theory shaped the
federal government, setting limits on its power in order to protect
personal liberty. Another theory molded the states, authorizing
them to go to extraordinary lengths, even to the point of violating
individual rights, to advance the "good and welfare of the
commonwealth." The Framers believed these theories could coexist
comfortably, but conflict between the two has largely defined
American history. Gerstle shows how national political leaders
improvised brilliantly to stretch the power of the federal
government beyond where it was meant to go--but at the cost of
giving private interests and state governments too much sway over
public policy. The states could be innovative, too. More impressive
was their staying power. Only in the 1960s did the federal
government, impelled by the Cold War and civil rights movement,
definitively assert its primacy. But as the power of the central
state expanded, its constitutional authority did not keep pace.
Conservatives rebelled, making the battle over government's proper
dominion the defining issue of our time. From the Revolution to the
Tea Party, and the Bill of Rights to the national security state,
Liberty and Coercion is a revelatory account of the making and
unmaking of government in America.
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