From the end of the New Deal until quite recently, the U.S. House of Representatives was dominated by a conservative coalition that thwarted the Democratic majority and prevented the enactment of measures proposed by a succession of liberal Presidents. Today Presidents aren't necessarily liberal and the House of Representatives is not necessarily the graveyard of presidential proposals. What happened? Congress evolved. It all began with airconditioning.
In this entertaining tale of one of our most august institutions, Nelson Polsby describes how the Democratic majority finally succeeded...

In this greatly entertaining tale of one of our most august institutions, Nelson Polsby argues that among other things, from the 50's to the 90's, Congress evolved. In short, Polsby argues that air conditioning altered the demography of the southern states, which in turn changed the political parties of the South, which transformed the composition and in due course the performance of the US House of Representatives. This evolutionary process led to the House's liberalization and later to its transformation into an arena of sharp partisanship, visible among both Democrats and Republicans....

How are public policies initiated in American politics? Do they spring fully formed from the furrowed brow of the President? Are they the product of congressional committees? This pathbreaking book by Nelson Polsby looks for the first time at the process of political innovation. Drawing examples from foreign and domestic policy, Polsby examines the genesis of eight major new government initiatives: the Peace Corps, the Truman Doctrine, the Council of Economic Advisers, Medicare, Community Action Programs, the National Science Foundation, civilian, control of atomic energy, and the Nuclear...

Today's political controversies call into question some of the principles that have shaped government through most of this century.New Federalist Papers, written by three constitutional experts, defends the representative democracy put in place by the framers of the Constitution. Like Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, the authors of New Federalist Papers see danger in the effort to diminish and relocate federal power. They recognize that it is the task of public discourse to bring about reasoned consideration of such issues as gun control, term limits, flag burning, the balanced...

Of all the questions that might be asked about political life, it would be difficult to find one of greater interest than the ancient query: who rules over whom? It appeals powerfully to our curiosity. We want to know who "runs" things--who makes policy decisions in New York, Washington, London, or the town in which we live. Is it a single powerful individual, an economic elite, a series of elites, the citizens, political bosses, or some variant of these possibilities? The major purpose of this volume is to find an answer to this question for a small American city, and to extend the answer...

Why have the Democrats lost five of the last seven presidential elections, even though polls consistently show that more Americans identify with that party than with the Republican party? And why are Democratic presidential nomination races usually so much more bitter and fractious than those held by the Republicans?The answer, argues William Mayer, lies in an important but too often ignored feature of American politics: The Democrats are a more ideologically diverse, less cohesive party than the Republicans and thus have greater difficulty maintaining party unity. After extensively...