> On Jul 11, 2006, at 1:52 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
> > Doug or anyone else on this list,
> > I was wondering if anyone has read _Golden Rule : The Investment
> > Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political
> > Systems_ by Thomas Ferguson.
> > If so what do you think of it? Any criticisms?
> I haven't read the book, but I've read a lot of Ferguson's other
> stuff, and am familiar with his argument. I think he underestimates
> the degree to which big givers follow the polls; in his model, the
> givers lead the electorate. There was a big shift in campaign
> contribs to the Republicans *after* the 1994 sweep, and previously
> Democratic houses like Goldman Sachs went Republican in the early
> Bush years (i.e., not in 1998 or 1999).
> Doug <<<<<>>>>>
ferguson's book was almost completely ignored by poli sci folks, most certainly the mainstream garden variety...
thesis shouldn't be disagreeable to most lbo-sters, elite abiliity to dominate policy outcomes through "control" of/influence over the electoral process...
essentially a rational choice argument: candidates for office must seek favor from some portion of the corporate sector...
consequences of this system of electoral financing include not-always subtle changes in candidate positions, elected official unwillingness to pursue certain legislative directions, narrow policy parameters...
bucking recent conventional poli sci wisdom about political party decline, ferguson suggests a shift: while citizens/voters have become less important to party activities, elites have increased their "investments" in candidates/parties...
another rational choice assumption: elites desirous of influencing/controlling the political state have to "invest in someone and something and parties remain important for such ends... mh