ABSTRACT
From the late 1960s through today, political, social, and cultural polarization has transformed politics in the United States. Instead of attempting to appeal to so-called swing voters, politicians find themselves increasingly forced to appeal to a highly divided electorate. The book explores the impact of polarization on efforts to control public corruption in government and to hold public officials accountable for illegal and arguable immoral conduct. It argues that moral polarization in American society had made it next to impossible to hold public officials accountable for immoral public and private conduct. As the result, moral anarchy has overwhelmed civic discourse. More than permitting immoral public officials to assume positions of power, moral anarchy had made it possible for powerful special interests to push back against efforts by good government reform groups to control the influence of special interests on the nation’s democratic institutions. The intensification of political, social, and cultural polarization has helped to unleash a perfect storm which has disabled traditional public integrity safeguards.
The book explores the long-term trends that have led to the current situation.
