It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism [Hardcover]

What this book IS NOT is another silly polemic designed for the polarized Sunday talk shows. This is a careful, thoughtful discussion of the problems at the heart of our dysfunctional Congress.

This is a book every American should read. It discusses the problems that led to this, it discusses bromides that should be rejected and proposes thoughtful solutions that are well reasoned even if some may be difficult politically to implement.

Check out NPR's April 30 edition of Morning Edition for an interview with the authors.

The authors are political scientists who've studied Congress for 4 decades and aren't just talking head political pundits. They don't let the Democrats off the hook but they lay the chief blame for the current dysfunction in Congress upon the Republicans. Their reasoning is based based on a number of factors. High on the list are the tactics Republican Congressional leaders employed during the ceiling debt fiasco of 2011 (see update below). It is the authors' judgment that by implying to the world that Republicans preferred to have the US default on its debt rather than have a compromise with the Democrats that included revenue as part of the agreement, the Republicans took Congressional dysfunction to a new extreme.

The authors make a good case. But what makes this book really fascinating is the level of scholarship, the wealth of political science material and the long term view.

For example, there is a graph of party polarization as calculated by roll call votes. It shows that the polarization is at an all time extreme since 1879, 133 years ago. This speaks to the seriousness of what faces this country. This speaks to the desperate need for our political parties to cooperate enough to govern instead of sabotaging government. There is another graph showing the expanded use of cloture voting in the Senate.

For those who are all ready well informed about the complex and sometimes bizarre rules of Congress, this will still likely enrich one's knowledge. For those who haven't yet dived into the history and rules of Congress, this is an excellent book in one's education.

I believe this book is sure to become a political science classic. I rarely give anything 5 stars, but do so unhesitatingly for this book.

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Update June 5, 2012

This book is often on my mind and has given me a lot to chew on. I wanted to express some sympathy for those who mostly lean toward the GOP in their politics and offer a thought that might help them better tolerate this book. The authors' main targets are not GOP ideology or policies. Their motivation for writing this book stems from GOP tactics and methods of the last 1-4 years. Their claim is that it is the GOP who introduced major unprecedented and extreme tactics with the debt ceiling vote as well as excessive Senate holds and filibusters. So it can help to leave the ideology muck aside and just look at how Congress functions (or doesn't) as if one were a clinician. It is in that light that the authors say:

"Some readers may be struck by a lack of balance in our treatment of the two major political parties. We hope they understand that we do not seek to advance a personal ideological or partisan agenda. Rather, we believe that imbalance or asymmetry reflects a regrettable reality that is too often obscured in the traditional media and among serious scholars of American democracy. We want two vibrant and constructive political parties that can compete vigorously for the votes of Americans and fight hard for their views in political and policy arenas."

I've supported both Dem and GOP candidates in the past, but I think the authors make their case for our current times. There are a lot of comments among the reviews here that jump into policy or ideology debates, but IMHO that is missing the focus of this book. I also think that most Americans have a poor grasp for what the debt ceiling vote is about and what the consequences might have been if that vote had not passed.

The level of anger and inability (or refusal) to listen to each other among the polarized sides of this mess is an indicator of political cancer. I'm sick of it from both sides, but that won't stop me from continuing to learn from this terrific book.
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Two respected policy analysts, one from a liberal think tank, the other from a conservative one, have stated for us news junkies a verity which is obvious, yet not well understood in its implications for conducting future sane policies.

As a former Republican when moderate Republicans were uncricified in that Party, I can well appreciate their concerns as stated in their May 1, 2012 Washington Post article: "It is clear that the center of gravity in the Republican Party has shifted sharp0ly to the right. Its once-legendary moderate and center-right legislators in the House and the Senate---think Bob Michel, Mickey Edwards, John Danforth, Chuck Hagel--are virtually extinct."

The implications for that extremism are dramatic. Inability to compromise or to make any connections with the other party means (again from the Post piece) "When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country's challenges."

In short, they write, "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in Americn politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of is political opposition."

They mention the charge reminisent of Joe McCarthy from Congressman Allen West (R-Fl) who stated that "78 to 81" Democrats in Congress are members of the Communist Party, regretting that virtually no Republican challenged that absurd comment.

This situation produced almost complete gridlock, as issues such as our obscenely huge debt, health care reform and climate change are lost in Republican embrace of ideologies which lead to no decisions.

This stark book needs wide embrace by independent voters who will determine the next election.

I rarely comment on political items. For the most part in my view politics are like shifting desert sands, ideas and politicians come and go. (That being said, taxes are like mountains, large and ever lasting)

That being said the last couple of years have really made me aggravated with how little American politics has accomplished. Watching a debate in congress is like watching two little kids in the back of a car poke at each other on a road trip. It's loud, boisterous, and not accomplishing anything. I usually vote for whomever I think will do the best job and as such don't consider myself in allegiance with any one party. It has been my observation since Gore vs Bush that the Republicans however are no longer at all interested in any sort of compromise. This is even more true since Obama became president.

This book more eloquently states that point of view and backs it up with many facts and citations throughout the book (at least in the kindle version I purchased). In brief, it shows why Mitch McConnells statement that "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president" has become the guiding principle of Republican politics and that our system is hopelessly mired in partitionship.

Its an excellent book, and frankly the fact that both a democrat and republican from two very ideologically different think tanks came together to write it shows how bad it really is in America.