Sabato, Larry J. and Simpson, Glenn R. Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics. New York: Times Books (Random House), 1996. 430 pages.

After 300 interviews, Larry Sabato, a professor, and Glenn Simpson, a reporter, put together this book about corruption in the U.S. political system. In 1964, 76 percent of Americans polled said that they trusted the government in Washington to do what is right most of the time. By the time this book appeared in 1996, that number had plunged to 19 percent. At the end of the book the authors ask, "Where will we be in ten years if the problems identified in this volume are not addressed?"

This book examines corruption in the electoral process, including dirty tricks, vote fraud, and mass-media spin. It also looks at corruption in Congress -- the abuse of privileges, and our broken campaign-finance system that encourages payoffs by special interests. Today in 2006, everything is worse than ten years ago. There were two presidential elections that many believe were rigged, no one has any respect for our foreign policy, the rich are still getting richer, peak oil is threatening, everyone drives gas-hogging SUVs, climate patterns are changing, and our government is too disorganized to help people in New Orleans. The next version of this book needs a better subtitle. How's this: "The Persistence of Collapse in American Politics."
ISBN 0-8129-2499-1

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