Congress and the American TraditionTransaction Publishers - 363 páginas Most Americans would probably be surprised to hear that, in 1959, James Burnham, a leading political thinker questioned whether Congress would survive, and whether the Executive Branch of the American government would become a dictatorship. In the last decade, members of Congress have impeached a president, rejected or refused to consider presidential nominees, and appear in the media criticizing the chief executive. Congress does not exactly appear to be at risk of expiring. Regardless of how we perceive Congress today, more than forty years after Congress and the American Tradition was written, Burnham's questions, arguments, and political analysis still have much to tell us about freedom and political order. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-5 de 61
... ment by the people is possible , because experience shows that power always winds up in the hands of the few , whether or not this is publicly acknowledged . The deeper problem is that modern society has given rise to mass - man ...
... ment is that successful government and social order are not the prod- uct of abstract reasoning . No abstract rational formula can ever pre- scribe the institutions and practices that will establish a government with the right amount of ...
... ment of the means of satisfying their interests . This inevitably pro- duces a government and a society that are imperfect , with some prob- lems and conflicts that cannot be eliminated or resolved . Congress itself is , of course , an ...
... ment has been steadily shifting to the Executive . Burnham sees in this the great danger of " democratism . " This raises an important question . Plato argued in The Republic that it was precisely the struggle for power among passions ...
... ment is , strictly speaking , insoluble ; and yet it is solved . The double fact , though real and part of historical life , is a paradox . Consider the problem of government from the point of view of the reflective individual . I , as ...
Contenido
3 | |
16 | |
34 | |
The Diffusion of Power | 45 |
Power and Limits | 62 |
Public and Private | 75 |
The Place of Congress | 91 |
The Traditional Balance | 103 |
The Escape of the Treaty Power | 205 |
The Investigatory Power | 221 |
The Attack on Investigations | 236 |
Theoretical Gravediggers | 253 |
The Case Against Congress | 262 |
The Reform of Congress | 271 |
Democracy and Liberty | 281 |
The Logic of Democratism | 290 |
The Fall of Congress | 127 |
The LawMaking Power | 140 |
The Rise of the Fourth Branch | 157 |
The Purse | 169 |
And The Sword | 184 |
The Problem of Treaties | 194 |
Conditions of Liberty | 301 |
What Is a Majority | 311 |
Leader of the Masses Assembly of the People | 317 |
Can Congress Survive? | 333 |