The Roots of Defeat

The stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton by a man whose character flaws would disqualify him from serving as a city councilor brings into sharp focus the political weaknesses of the Democratic Party. How did it happen? Unlike explanations that focus on personality flaws, this book explains the economic trends and social changes that led to the defeats of 2016.


“With its manufacturing base shredded by foreign competition, its federal budget set into permanent imbalance by low tax rates on the wealthy and corporations, and high-wage union jobs nearly a thing of the past, the country’s continuing prosperity was dependent on speculative growth in the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sector.”


The story begins with a review of the New Deal Democratic Party, which failed to master an inflationary, stagnant economy in the 1970s. That party was gradually replaced by a Democratic Party with a political philosophy known as the Third Way. This book is stuffed with insights about the kind of world created by those changes.


Bill Clinton was the first Democratic president to embrace Wall Street and wealthy donors, but not the last. The consequences are dramatic. 


“Families with no wage increases for over a decade, young people working at low paying jobs and living at home, millions of men no longer in the labor force – these are the symptoms of a chronic economic crisis.”


Only by understanding how the Democrats lost their way can Americans create a political response that leads to a more prosperous, more just nation.