Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money

Now in paperback, how initiatives are remaking our democracy, creating a hazardous new arena of politics.

Where once most state laws were passed by legislatures, now voters in half the states and hundreds of cities decide directly on such explosive issues as drugs, affirmative action, casino gambling, assisted suicide, and human rights. Ostensibly driven by public opinion, the initiative process is far too often manipulated by moneyed interests, often funded by out-of-state millionaires pursuing their own agendas.

In this highly controversial book, David Broder, the "dean of American political journalism" (Brill's Content), explains how a movement that started with Proposition 13 in California is now a multimillion-dollar business in which lawyers, campaign consultants, signature gatherers, and advertising agencies sell their expertise to interest groups with private agendas.

With a new afterword updating the results of the most recent elections and discussing the potential for future initiatives, Broder takes the reader into the heart of these battles as he talks with the field operatives, lobbyists, PR spinners, labor leaders, and business executives, all of whom can manipulate the political process.

David S. Broder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist, writes twice weekly for the Washington Post and is syndicated in more than 300 newspapers. He is a regular on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN's Inside Politics, and PBS's Washington Week in Review. He is the author or co-author of six previous books, including the bestseller Changing of the Guard. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.