James Madison rules America

"Mandatory reading for all involved or interested in politics today, so they will undertand the foundations of our system."--Jerry Climer. The Congressional Institute. Inc. "In this outstanding book, William F. Connelly, Jr., reminds us that the Constitution continues to shape national politics. Drawing on his deep knowledge of the theory and practice of American government, he cogently explains that compromise and conflict are both part of our country's genetic code. "James Madison Rules America is a timely treatment of a timeless topic. Full of unexpected insights and subtle wisdom, it asks us to look beyond Internet headlines and intellectual fads to the things that really matter: the structures that the Founders put in place more than two centuries ago. This book is a remarkable intellectual achievement, handling profound issues with clarity and erudition. It would be a valuable addition to courses on Congress and American national politics."--John J. Pitney Jr., Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College. "Bill Connelly connects the dots on our seemingly scattershot political panorama and reveals a pattern of recurring conflict and gridlock traceable to the scheme's designer, James Madison. Connelly affirms Madison's wisdom and in so doing gives us a better appreciation for it."--Donald R. Wolfensberger, director of The Congress Project, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Congress. "In James Madison Rules America, William F. Connelly, Jr., explains the interplay of political and constitutional forces that shape politics and public policymaking in the United States. Connelly finds that the underlying constitutional structure frames the possibilities our political process may contemplate. Viewed through the lens of constitutional theory, the American political system manages to channel partisan forces into public policy outcomes. Every American should read this book."--Ronald Peters, Regents' Professor, Carl Albert Center, and Department of Political Science. University of Oklahoma. James Madison Rules America examines congressional party legislative and electoral strategy in the context of our constitutional separation of powers. In a departure from recent books that have described Congress as "the broken branch" or the "second Civil War," William F. Connelly, Jr., argues that partisanship, polarization, and the permanent campaign are an inevitable part of congressional politics. The strategic conundrum confronting both parties in the House of Representatives--whether to be part of the "government" or part of the "opposition"--provides evidence of how concretely James Madison's Constitution governs the behavior of politicians to this day. Drawing on a two-hundred-year debate within American political thought among the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Woodrow Wilson, James Madison Rules America is as topical as current debates over partisan polarization and the permanent campaign, while being grounded in two enduring and important schools of thought within political science: pluralism and party government. --Book Jacket.