It's Even Worse than It Looks:

A Conversation with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein
with commentary from Vice President Walter Mondale 

 

Program

Welcome and Introduction
Professor Larry Jacobs, Director, Center for the Study of Politics and Governance 

Book Talk 
Thomas Mann, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution 
Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Conversation and Q &A
Thomas Mann
Norman Ornstein
Vice President Walter Mondale  

moderated by Professor Larry 

Reception to follow in atrium

 

In It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein argue that there are two overriding problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional collapse. The first is the serious mismatch between our political parties, which have become as vehemently adversarial as parliamentary parties, and a governing system that, unlike a parliamentary democracy, makes it extremely difficult for majorities to act. Second, while both parties participate in tribal warfare, both sides are not equally culpable. The political system faces what the authors call “asymmetric polarization,” with the Republican Party implacably refusing to allow anything that might help the Democrats politically, no matter the cost.

 

With dysfunction rooted in long-term political trends, a coarsened political culture and a new partisan media, the authors conclude that there is no “silver bullet” reform that can solve everything. But they offer a panoply of useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like greater public participation and institutional restructuring of the House and Senate, while debunking others, like independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call on the media as well as the public at large to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every election cycle. Until voters learn to act strategically to reward problem solving and punish obstruction, American democracy will remain in serious danger. 

 

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