
A Government by the People
Description
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Frustrated with the governmental corruption and favoritism that facilitated the rise of monopolies, advocates of direct democracy aimed to check the influence of legislative bodies and directly empower the people to pass laws and abolish trusts. But direct democracy failed to achieve its promises: corporations and trusts continued to flourish, voter turnout rates did not increase, and interest groups grew stronger. By the 1930s, it was clear that direct democracy favored large organizations with the financial and organizational resources to fund increasingly expensive campaigns.
Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of direct democracy, particularly in California, where ballot questions and propositions have addressed such volatile issues as gay rights and affirmative action. In this context, Goebel’s analysis of direct democracy’s history, evolution, and ultimate unsuitability as a grassroots tool is particularly timely.
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Person
Thomas Goebel is author of The Children of Athena: Professionals and the Creation of a Credentialed Social Order, 1870–1920. He was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., from 1997 to 2002.
Content
- Cover Page
- A Government by the People
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Building a Government by the People
- 1 From the Revolution to the Populists: The Antimonopoly Tradition in American Politics
- 2 The Emergence of an Issue: Popular Sovereignty and the Rise of the Initiative and Referendum in the 1890s
- 3 Republic or Democracy?: Direct Democracy and American Constitutionalism, 1890-1920
- 4 The Keystone in the Arch of Popular Government: Direct Democracy in the American West, 1898-1912
- 5 The Nigger Issue is Sure to be Raised: Direct Democracy in the South and North, 1908-1918
- 6 The Trinity of Democracy: Direct Democracy, Antimonopoly, and the Progressive Movement
- 7 Direct Democracy in Action: The United States up to 1940
- 8 Inventing Modern Politics: Ballot Propositions, Election Campaigns, and Political Consultants in California, 1920-1940
- Conclusion: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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