The Process of Government

Nicholas Lemann has a rich essay in the latest New Yorker, contrasting Thomas Frank's The Wrecking Crew - and the "first, kill all the interest groups" style of political outrage more generally - with a forgotten classic from 1908, Arthur Bentley's The Process of Government, which depicts American politics as "a never-ending, small-bore struggle for advantage among constantly shifting coalitions of interest groups." By channeling Bentley, Lemann doesn't just provide a welcome rebuke to Frank's theory of American politics; he offers cautionary advice for the entire pundit class, and especially anyone who's peddling a grand new agenda for one of the two political parties - so read the whole thing.