Captured
The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy
1 of 1 copy available
Americans know something is wrong in their government. Senator Whitehouse combines history, legal scholarship, and personal experiences to provide the first hands-on, comprehensive explanation of what's gone wrong, exposing multiple avenues through which our government has been infiltrated and disabled by corporate powers. Captured reveals an original oversight by the Founders, and shows how and why corporate power has exploited that vulnerability: to strike fear in elected representatives who don’t “get right” by threatening million-dollar "dark money" election attacks (a threat more effective and less expensive than the actual attack); to stack the judiciary—even the Supreme Court—in "business-friendly" ways; to "capture” the administrative agencies meant to regulate corporate behavior; to undermine the civil jury, the Constitution's last bastion for ordinary citizens; and to create a corporate "alternate reality" on public health and safety issues like climate change.
Captured shows that in this centuries-long struggle between corporate power and individual liberty, we can and must take our American government back into our own hands.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 11, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525532903
- File size: 259157 KB
- Duration: 08:59:54
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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In this provocative audiobook, Sheldon Whitehouse, a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, provides an insider's account of how corporate and moneyed interests have insinuated themselves into our government. His main point is that the Founders didn't see how the economy and corporations would change to the point where they could influence elections and policy. Michael Bybee is the main narrator, while Senator Whitehouse reads the introduction and author's note. Of the two, Whitehouse has the more energetic, captivating voice. Bybee is far more subdued and unemotional, and the audiobook tends to drag when he's reading. Perhaps Whitehouse should have trusted his Senatorial debating voice and narrated the whole book. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
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