Nation on the Take

Description

The link between ordinary American people and their government is broken, and special interest groups increasingly control every level of government. The necessity of raising huge sums has completely changed the character of politics, determining what elected representatives stand for and how they spend their time. The marriage of great wealth and political influence has strangled the political process, leaving us unable to address our most pressing problems as a nation, from climate change to the wealth gap. It defines the terms of our daily concerns: from the cars we drive to the air we breathe, even to the bodies we occupy. In this powerful work of reportage, Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, two of Washington's most vigilant watchdogs, expose legalized corruption and link it to the kitchen-sink issues citizens face every day. Inciting our outrage, the authors then introduce us to the army of reformers laying the groundwork for change, ready to be called into...