Review: It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism by Thomas E. Mann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am interested in how we came to be in a state of what appears to be permanent partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill. From the vantage point of Obama's first term, this book offers insightful, intelligent analysis on the recent history of deep, party divisiveness.

McConnell’s statement indicating a desire to cut a deal and avoid default changed the dynamic, but as he said, it was not because he feared the economic consequences for the country,
but because the failure to do so would damage the Republican brand. The clear implication was that if default brought economic hardship and the president and Democrats got blamed, that would be just fine. That kind of calculus—putting partisan advantage ahead of problem-solving, with the stakes for the country being sky-high—was not politics as usual, at least not as we have seen it practiced through several generations of party leaders.

From his perspective, the president had put himself out on a limb to reach a deal, accepting painful changes in Medicare and other entitlements that his party stalwarts passionately opposed, and in return had been openly disrespected by Boehner. He faced the real possibility of a major jolt to an already weak economy; experts predicted that default might send the economy into a deeper tailspin. So he went on national television to offer his own version of what had happened, underscoring his support for the $4 trillion plan he had come close to securing with Boehner. He
placed blame not on Boehner but on the other Republicans in Congress who had insisted on a cuts-only approach that Obama chastised as unfair because it spared the wealthy alone any sacrifice.
He expressed alarm at the dire consequences, including the first time in history that the nation’s AAA credit rating would be downgraded, and decried a six-month extension of the debt limit
as irresponsible. He called for compromise and said, “The American people may have voted for divided government but they didn’t vote for dysfunctional government.”

While calling out impractical such possible solutions as a third party, final chapters suggests as workable solutions including:

* Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) This is a topic I am interested in and have done interviews to cover.
* Universal voting through such carrots as freely available IDs, weekend voting, or a lottery and such sticks as a mandate or fine.
* Open primaries to reduce focus on ideologically extreme candidates.
* Reducing the corrupting influence of monied lobbying with special attention to the crimes and confessions of Jack Abramoff

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