Fifth Republic

A really interesting article posted on The Monkeycage, a blog co-authored by my former government professor Phil Klinkner, discusses Cornell professor Theodore Lowi's essay on what Lowi calls 'The Fifth Republic." Lowi's Fifth Republic encompasses the current era of American government where the presidency has become all-encompassing, based on the cold-war/war-on-terror constant "wartime footing" and popular disdain for meddling bureaucracy, incompetent congress and bench-legislating judiciary. Lowi argues that this isn't just a creation of the Bush administration, but a pervasive system into which Obama will likely fall, because the president needs maximalist powers because voters and the media place all responsiblitity on the executive. Very much worth reading.