Washington Post reporter Edsall is amazed at the turn in public
policy away from concern with economic redistribution and social
welfare - and convinced that the change is deeper than the advent
of the Reagan administration, a point he skillfully drives home.
The key to the shift in policy really lies with the Democratic
party. Using academic studies (without pretentiousness), Edsall
shows that the Democrats were in trouble in the late '60s and early
'70s. Previous Democratic success had rested on coalition
politicking: making different promises to different constituencies
- labor, immigrants, the poor - and then smoothing over the
differences through compromise when in office. Democratic hegemony
depended on this capability and on a growing electoral base,
bringing in more votes from the bottom. But things started to
change. Television campaigning worked against the discrete promises
essential to keeping a coalition together. Voter turnouts started
to decline, and the Democratic constituency became increasingly
skewed toward better-educated, higher-income citizens. Party rules
instituting open primaries played a part too, since primary voters
are even less representative of Democratic voters as a whole.
Before events reached a crisis, Watergate artificially revived the
Democrats - except that the revival took the form of Democrats
being elected in formerly Republican constituencies. These "new"
Democrats had and have no interest in expanding the electorate, and
take their role as representatives of higher income groups
seriously. This was one reason the Democrats went along with Reagan
economic policies. (There were other factors: reform in
congressional seniority shifted power away from older, often
liberal Democrats to younger, ideologically mixed ones; the latter
show a preference for procedural over substantive reforms; and
individual candidates are more dependent upon corporate money for
their campaigns, most of which goes to incumbents, than on party
resources.) These changes in the Democratic party - combined with
the Republicans' ideological cohesion and wealth, a political
offensive by business, and a decline in labor-union power - here
set the stage for the new inequality. Edsall points out that
Democratic gains in the 1982 elections were tied to an increased
turnout fueled by animosity toward the Reagan administration, but
that the Democrats as a party didn't foment it and don't know what
to do with it. Nothing in this analysis is glitteringly new, but it
is an economical and accessible synthesis especially valuable in
this election year. (Kirkus Reviews)
"A first-rate book that deserves the widest possible attention. It is the best political-economic analysis I have seen yet."—Robert L. Heilbroner In the past decade, power controlling the nation's taxing and spending policies has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of the affluent—and excercised for the benefit of the affluent. Traditional liberal beliefs in tax equity and income redistribution have been replaced by theories justifying tax reductions in income concentrated among the very rich.
In this book, Thomas Edsall, a Capitol Hill reporter for the Washington Post, examines the new power centers in the Democratic and Republican parties, the corporate lobbying community, and organized labor, and explores the changes in United States politics that have led to the shift in economic policy under the Reagan administration.
"[Edsall] has written a cool analysis of trends in voting patterns, union power and the fortunes of the two major parties. . . . This first-class book [is] the best single explanation of Reagan's success that I have encountered."—Robert Lekachman, Washington Post
"Here is a book of the first importance. . . . [Edsall] has written a cogent and convincing analysis of a major shift in the balance of power over the past decade. . . . In this solid work of political analysis and argument, he is extremely good at explaining the sort of fine point that most writers on this subject automatically assume you know."—Jack Beatty, Atlantic
"Superb. . . . This is the best book on class, ideology, money, and politics in many a political year."—Robert Kuttner, New Republic
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