Restart

I have been away for the last two weeks, so I thought I would start over in trying to say what my book is about.

My book is about what is wrong with our government, and how we can change it. Its conclusion is that we should strengthen our political parties so that they have more discipline and control over their elected members in Congress. This could be done by changing campaign finance laws to require that all financial contributions to political campaigns be made only to political parties. Individual candidates would not be able to solicit or accept contributions from anyone other than their party. This would free the candidate from the burden of fund raising, and allow him or her to focus solely on the issues. More importantly, it would enable the party to discipline its members with the threat of withholding funding for campaigns.

I realize that this proposal is directly contrary to most of the discussions of campaign finance reform, where the focus is on reducing the influence of money and parties on the campaigns and on the candidates. Parties for most people are part of the problem of campaign finance, not its solution.

The effects of such a change in the political parties, however, would be to trigger changes in the dynamic relationships between the House of Representatives, the Senate, the President, and eventually even the Supreme Court. These changes would result in a different kind of government, one more closely resembling the parliamentary government of Britain and most other European governments.

To understand my reasons for this conclusion, it is necessary to take a different look at our history, one that includes our government as a factor in our history, not just as part of the neutral background on which cultural and social forces play out their conflicts. Most of my book is in fact devoted to presenting this view of our history.