The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barred, House of Cards-style exposE of who really wields power in Washington Mike Lofgren is back with a book perfectly pitched for the frenzied circus of the primaries.
His argument this time is that for all of the backstabbing and money grubbing of the campaign season, the politicians we elect have as little ability to shift policy as Communist party apparatchiks. Welcome to Mike Lofgren's Washington, D.C.-a This Town, where the political theater that is endlessly tweeted and blogged about has nothing to do with actual decision making.
The real work gets done behind the scenes by invisible bureaucrats working for the vast web of agencies that actually dictate our foreign policy, defense posture, and security decisions. Have you ever wondered why Obama's policies look so much like Bush's? Seek no further: Hillary v. Jeb is just window dressing. Actual power lies in the Deep State, Washington's shadowy power elite, in the pockets of corporate interests and dependent on the moguls of Silicon Valley, whose data-collecting systems enable the U.S. government to spy on our every move, swipe, and click. Drawing on insider knowledge gleaned in his three decades on the Hill, Lofgren offers a provocative wake-up call to Americans and urges them to fight to reinstate the basic premise of the Constitution.
From veteran politician Mike Lofgren, a funny and impassioned exposé of what passes for business as usual in Washington today.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when perfectly rational people ran the Republican Party. So how did the party of Lincoln become the party of lunatics? That is what this book aims to answer. Fear not, the Dems come in for their share of tough talk-they are zombies, a party of the living dead.
Mike Lofgren came to Washington in the early eighties-those halcyon, post-Nixonian glory days-for what he imagined would be a short stint on Capitol Hill. He has witnessed quite a few low points in his twenty-eight years on the Hill-but none quite so pitiful as the antics of the current crop of legislators whom we appear to have elected.
Based on the explosive article Lofgren wrote when he resigned in disgust after the debt ceiling crisis, The Party Is Over is a funny and impassioned exposé of everything that is wrong with Washington. Obama and his tired cohorts are no angels but they have nothing on the Republicans, whose wily strategists are bankrupting the country one craven vote at a time. Be prepared for some fireworks.