Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street, and the Frustration of American Politics

From Library Journal Phillips's first book, The Emerging Republican Majority (LJ 1015/69), was praised as the political bible of the Nixon era. He became a Republican pariah after The Politics of Rich and Poor (LJ 5/15/90) was hailed by the Democrats in the 1992 presidential campaign. That work was the first in a trilogy on the plight of modern America. The second work, Boiling Point (LJ 3/15/93), documented the frustration of the middle class. Arrogant Capital offers solutions to "the beltway mentality" in Washington, D.C., and the greed of Wall Street. Abandoning hope of political reform through our two-party system, Phillips now favors direct democracy to prevent America's decline. Though some of his populist proposals are extreme, they deserve debate. His historical grasp of patterns among former world powers (e.g., Spain, Holland, Britain) add substance to his fears. Our modern Thomas Paine has written another readable volume that deserves widespread attention. --William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description A respected political analyst offers a controversial plan to stop the bloat of government and the ever-increasing power of special interests, arguing that Washington has become a parasite feeding off the governed. 75,000 first printing. Tour. From Publishers Weekly Decrying the influence of political and financial elites, veteran pundit Phillips ( The Emerging Republican Majority ) here attempts to channel the dissatisfactions of the general populace, as evinced on radio talk shows, into national reform. "Capitals rot first," he declares, drawing briefly on such historical analogues as Hapsburg Spain and 18th-century Holland to buttress his argument that the current centers of American power, Washington and Wall Street, have sunk into decadence. Echoing recent critiques like Jonathan Rauch's Demo sclerosis , he highlights a bipartisan support for the government status quo. While Phillips wisely focuses on governmental, not social reform, his generalization that conservatives blame cultural weakness while liberals underscore economic decline ignores the influence of more nuanced thinkers like Cornel West. Among Phillips's better suggestions: move away from the two-party system by allowing referenda and considering proportional representation; raise taxes on the "really rich." Some problems, like the mercenary culture of lobbyists, may be less amenable to remedy by policy than by moral suasion, but Phillips sets an agenda for debate. Author tour. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Have you had enough of D.C.'s vultures feeding off the corpse of the body politic? Then you're part of the crowd, variously polled at between two-thirds and four-fifths of the people, disgusted by permanent Washington and its venal lawyer-lobbyist-politician fixers. Veteran pol watcher Phillips examines the decaying beast and its parasites while he lards the anger theme with blood-boiling stats. Better, he goes deeper than talk-show outrage and essays his own version of the problems. For the most part he explicates issues in the air nowadays--the "spectronic" (electronic speculation) economy, uncontrollable federal spending, and a sclerotic constitutional framework. The last debility cuts reform at the knees, as Phillips' numberless anecdotes reveal; in the hope, vain or not, of reviving the tradition of electoral "revolutions," such as Jefferson's, Lincoln's, and FDR's, Phillips concludes with a ten-point reform agenda. To limber up the political system, he suggests redrawing state boundaries and moving some federal bureaucracies to Denver. Author's tour should capitalize on his popular Boiling Point. Gilbert Taylor From Kirkus Reviews A blistering jeremiad that gives new vibrancy to the political clich‚ that Washington is out of touch with the average American. At first glance, it would seem that any book rehashing this idea, even c
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