Overview

For two centuries, the Framers' ideas about political corruption flourished in the courts, even in the absence of clear rules governing voters, civil officers, and elected officials. In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to narrow the definition of corruption, and the meaning has since changed dramatically. No case makes that clearer than Citizens United. In 2010, one of the most consequential Court decisions in American political history gave wealthy corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion treated corruption as nothing more than explicit bribery. With unlimited spending transforming American politics for the worse, Citizens United was not just bad law but bad history. Corruption in America clearly shows that if the American experiment in self-government is to have a future, then we must revive the traditional meaning of corruption and embrace an old ideal.

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"In Corruption in America, an eloquent, revealing, and sometimes surprising historical inquiry, Teachout convincingly argues that corruption, broadly understood as placing private interests over the public good in public office, is at the root of what ails American democracy.-- ""David Cole, New York Review of Books"" ""At last someone has written a book that puts a name to what is perhaps the most significant factor shaping American politics today: corruption. In a masterly work of scholarship, Zephyr Teachout...traces the history of American approaches to what was long considered a mortal threat to the republic... [and] calls for a return to the Framers' preference for across-the-board rules to help prevent corrupt acts before they are perpetrated, rather than relying on punishment after the fact."" -- ""Wall Street Journal"" ""Democrats who will be looking for a fresh agenda in 2016 should read Teachout's book carefully."" -- ""Washington Post"" ""Jo Anna Perrin narrates this timely, fascinating commentary/history, with its sometimes necessarily legalistic-sounding prose and concepts, with great clarity and a keen sense of purpose. Perrin's voice reflects the urgency in the author's persuasive argument."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""You have probably heard pundits say we are living in an age of 'legalized bribery;' Corruption in America is the book that makes their case in careful detail."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"""

Author Information

Zephyr Teachout is a scholar of constitutional law and an associate professor of law at Fordham Law School. She was the first national director of the Sunlight Foundation, and she also served as director of Internet organizing for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. Zephyr cofounded A New Way Forward, an organization built to break up the power of big banks, and was involved with Occupy Wall Street. Jo Anna Perrin is an audiobook narrator whose readings include Disarming the Narcissist by Wendy T. Behary, You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin, American Freak Show by Willie Geist, and many others.

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