Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition of Decentralism

Jeff Taylor

doi:10.5771/9780739175767

Summary

Featuring a foreword by Congressman Glen Browder, Politics on a Human Scale examines political decentralization in the United States, from the founding of the republic to the present.

Part of the desirable equilibrium is a sense of proportionality. Some sizes, some amounts, some levels are more appropriate than others. Decentralism is the best political tool to ensure equilibrium, to promote proportionality, and to obtain appropriate scale. Power distribution should be as wide as possible. Government functions should be as close to the people as practicable. In this way, individual human beings are not swallowed by a monstrous Leviathan. Persons are not at the mercy of an impersonal bureaucracy led by the far-away few. Decentralism gives us politics on a human scale. It gives us more democracy within the framework of a republic.

The longest chapters in the book deal with crucial turning points in U.S. history—specifically, when decentralists lost the upper-hand in the two major political parties. Decentralism in our nation runs deep, both intellectually and historically. It also has considerable popular support. Yet today it is a virtual political orphan. In Washington, neither major political party is serious about dispersing power to lower levels of government or to the people themselves. Still, there are dissident politicians and political movements that remain committed to the decentralist principle.

Power needs to be held in check, partly through decentralization, because power holds a great and dangerous attraction for humans. Recognition of this human tendency is the first step in guarding against it and getting back on a better path.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2013
Copyright Year: 2013
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-7575-0
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-7576-7
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 632
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. List of Tables and Textboxes No access
3. Foreword: A Moral Call for Decentralized Democracy No access
4. Preface No access
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Quadratic Persuasion No access Pages 1 - 16
Chapter 2. The Country Party: Agrarianism Surveyed No access Pages 17 - 54
Chapter 3. Nullification and the Politics of State Sovereignty No access Pages 55 - 88
Chapter 4. The Path Not Taken by the Progressive Era and New Deal No access Pages 89 - 174
Chapter 5. Southern Democrats and Selective Devolutions No access Pages 175 - 292
Chapter 6. Me-Too Republicans and Averted Revolutions No access Pages 293 - 446
Chapter 7. Ronald Reagan: Conservatism Co-Opted No access Pages 447 - 506
Chapter 8. Dissident Voices in an Age of Centralization No access Pages 507 - 534
Appendix A. Two Southern Populists with National Ambitions No access Pages 535 - 546
Appendix B. Wilson and the Coming of War No access Pages 547 - 550
Appendix C. Thomas Bayard, Grover Cleveland, and the Rise of Empire No access Pages 551 - 552
Appendix D. Personal Links between Taft ’52 and Goldwater ’64 No access Pages 553 - 556
Bibliography No access Pages 557 - 582
Index No access Pages 583 - 630
About the Author No access Pages 631 - 632