Democracy for the Few

Parenti's provocative critique of class power within traditional political institutions will arouse classroom debate and introduce students to a unique viewpoint of American capitalism. Unlike most texts on the American political system, DEMOCRACY FOR THE FEW emphasizes the political economy of public policy and who gets what.

1. PARTISAN POLITICS
Beyond Textbooks
The Politico-economic System
2. WEALTH AND WANT IN THE UNITED STATES
Capital and Labor
Accumulation and Expansion
Who Owns America? Corporate Concentration
Monopoly Farming
Downsizing and Downgrading
Profit-Price Inflation
Market Demand and Human Need
Productivity, A Mixed Blessing
Desirable Unemployment
The Hardships of Working America
The Human Costs of Economic Injustice
3. THE PLUTOCRATIC CULTURE: INSTITUTIONS AND IDEOLOGIES
Rule by Corporate Plutocracy
Promoting Ideological Orthodoxy
Right, Left, and Center
Public Opinion: Which Directions? Democracy: Form and Content
4. A CONSTITUTION FOR THE FEW
Class Power in Early America
Containing the Spread of Democracy
Plotters or Patriots? Democratic Concessions
5. RISE OF THE CORPORATE STATE
Serving Business: The Early Years
Law in the Service of Business
The Not-So-Progressive Era
War and Red Scares
The New Deal: Hard Times and Tough Reforms
6. POLITICS: WHO GETS WHAT? Welfare for the Rich
Federal Bailouts, State and Local Handouts
Taxes: Helping the Rich the Their Time of Greed
Unkind Cuts, Unfair Rates
Deficit Spending and the National Debt
Some Hidden Deficits
7. MILITARY EMPIRE AND GLOBAL DOMINATION
A Global Kill Capacity
Military Waste and Fraud
Pentagon Profits
The Military's Hidden Diseconomies
Economic Imperialism
The Terror State
8. HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT, AND HUMAN SERVICES: SACRIFICIAL LAMBS
The Poor Get Less (and Less)
Social Insecurity: Privatizing Everything
How Much Health Can You Afford? Creating Crises: Schools and Housing
"Mess Transit": What's Good for General Motors
Toxifying the Earth
Eco-Apocalypse
Government for the Despoilers
9. UNEQUAL BEFORE THE LAW
Crime in the Suites
Class Law
The "Tough on Crime" Craze
The Crime of Prisons
The Guilty Innocent
Sexist Justice
The Victimization of Children
Bedroom Police
Racist Law Enforcement
10. POLITICAL REPRESSION AND NATIONAL INSECURITY
The Repression of Dissent
Political Prisoners, USA
Political Murder, USA
The National Security Autocracy
CIA: Capitalism's International Army or Cocaine Import Agency? Watergate and Iran-Contra
11. WHO GOVERNS? ELITES, LABOR, AND GLOBALIZATION
The Ruling Class
Labor Besieged
Unions and the Good Fight
Globalization, WTO, and the End of Democracy
12. MASS MEDIA: FOR THE MANY, BY THE FEW
He Who pays the Piper
The Ideological Monopoly
Official Manipulation
Political Entertainment
Room for Alternatives? 13. ELECTIONS, PARTIES, AND VOTERS
Republicrats and Demopublicans
The Two-Party Monopoly
Proportional Representation: Making Every Vote Count
Rigging the Game
Money, A Necessary Condition
The Struggle to Vote
Voter "Apathy" and Participation
14. CONGRESS: THE POCKETING POWER
A Congress for the Money
Lobbyists: The Other Lawmakers
Grassroots Lobbying
Helping Themselves: The Varieties of Corruption
A Special-Interest Committee System
Security, Secrecy, and Fast Track
The Legislative Labyrinth
Term Limits
A Touch of Democracy
15. THE PRESIDENT: GUARDIAN OF THE SYSTEM
Salesman of the System
The Two Faces of the President
The President's Systemic Role
A Loaded Electoral College
The "New Federalism" Ploy
The Growth of Presidential Power
The Would-be King
The Conservative Context
16. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BUREAUCRACY
The Myth and Reality of Inefficiency
Deregulation and Privatization
Secrecy, Deception, and Corruption
Bureaucratic Action and Inaction
Serving the "Regulated
Public Authority in Private Hands
Monopoly Regulation Versus Public-Service Regulation
17. THE SUPREMELY POLITICAL COURT
Who Judges? Conservative Judicial Activism
Circumventing the First Amendment
Freedom for Revolutionaries? As the Court Turns
Influence of the Court
18. DEMOCRACY FOR THE FEW
Pluralism for the Few
The Limits of Reform
Democracy as Class Struggle
The Roles of the State
What Is to Be Done? The Reality of Public Production

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Democracy for the Few

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials