The Land of Flickering Lights; Restoring America in an Age of Broken Politics
Bernard Grant (Author photograph) New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. x, 294 pages. For Further Reading. Inscription by the author on title page. Inscription reads For Marilyn, Michael F. Bennet. Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the seat when Senator Ken Salazar became Secretary of the Interior. Bennet previously worked as a managing director for the Anschutz Investment Company, chief of staff to Denver mayor (and his future Senate colleague) John Hickenlooper, and superintendent of Denver Public Schools. Bennet is the son of Douglas J. Bennet, a former State Department official and president of Wesleyan University. Early in his career, Bennet worked for Ohio Governor Richard Celeste. He received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School, worked as a law clerk, and was counsel to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General during the administration of Bill Clinton. Bennet served then Mayor John Hickenlooper as his chief of staff from 2003 to 2005 and became superintendent of the Denver public school system in July 2005. Governor Bill Ritter appointed Bennet to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar when Salazar became Secretary of the Interior in January 2009. Bennet was elected in the 2010 Senate election, defeating Republican nominee Ken Buck. He chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2014 cycle and was reelected to the Senate in 2016 and 2022. We had become the land of flickering lights, in which the standard of success was not what we were doing for the next generation of Americans, or to enhance our role in the world, but instead whether we had kept government open for another few minutes. Michael Bennet
The Land of Flickering Lights is a unique contribution to American political writing at this or any other time. Senator Michael Bennet lifts a veil on the inner workings of Congress to reveal, in his words, through a series of actual stories, about the people, the politics, the motives, the money, the hypocrisy, the stakes, the outcome, the pathological culture of the capital and the consequences for us all. Bennet unfolds the dramatic backstory behind five episodes crucial to the well-being of all Americans. Each of them exemplifies the hyper-partisan politics that have upended our democracy: The highly politicized confirmation battles over judicial nominations at all levels, epitomized by ugly and unprincipled fights over seats on the Supreme Court; The passage of the Trump tax law, which massively increased our national debt and widened economic inequality across the country; The shredding of the Iran nuclear deal, which undermined our national security, caused friends and foes alike to doubt America's word, and made a mockery of the longstanding bipartisan tradition in foreign policy; The pervasive corruption unleashed by dark money in policies and how big donors have been able to stymie urgent action on climate change and many other issues; The sabotage by a congressional minority of the Gang of Eight's bi-partisan deal to reform America's immigration policies, a deal that would have comprehensively addressed the immigration issues that bedevil us to this day. With frankness and refreshing candor, and in elegant prose, Bennet pulls the machinations behind these episodes into full public view, shedding vital new light on our political dysfunction today. Arguing that each of us has a duty to act as a founder, he will inspire Americans of all political persuasions to demand that the winners of our political battles be all the American people, nor one party or the other. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Senator, American Dream, Freedom, Government, Congress, Democracy, Senate Confirmation, Judicial Nominations, Tax Law, Inequality, National Debt, Climate Change, Bipartisan, Immigration, National Security, Foreign Policy
ISBN: 9780802147813
[Book #85889]
Price: $150.00