Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic
Americans have a love-hate relationship with government. Rejecting bureaucracy—but not the goods and services the welfare state provides—Americans are insisting that government be made to run like a business. But, as Jon Michaels shows, separating the state from its public servants, practices, and institutions does violence to our Constitution, and threatens the health, stability, and legitimacy of the Republic.
Weaving together dramatic accounts of the Framers’ original governing scheme, FDR’s New Deal, LBJ’s Great Society, Ronald Reagan’s Privatization Revolution, and—now—the instant Trumpist movement to run government like a business, Constitutional Coup tells the story of the rise, maturation, and present-day demise of American constitutional government.
Casting privatization as an existential threat, Constitutional Coup explains how the fusion of politics and profits commercializes and destabilizes government, enriching big businesses cozy with the White House while emboldening CEO-style presidents to act imperially, without regard for bureaucratic expertise, civil society, or the rule of law.
A definitive guide to navigating the Trump presidency, Constitutional Coup urges—and maps out—a plan for democratic reform and constitutional redemption.
Published by Harvard University Press on October 23, 2017, Constitutional Coup debuted on Amazon.com as its #1 New Release in Constitutional Law.
Click here to read the Introduction to Constitutional Coup.
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