Godfrey Harris has been a public policy consultant based in Los Angeles, California, since 1968. He began consulting after serving as a university lecturer, U.S. Army intelligence officer, U.S. foreign service officer with the Department of State, an organisational specialist in President Lyndon Johnsons Executive Office, and as a program manager for an international financial company in Geneva. In all of these positions, Harris has been called upon to develop original ideas to solve problems or take advantage of new situations. As President of Harris/Ragan Management Group, Harris has focused the firms activities on projects that offer alternative solutions to matters of community concern. He holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles.
After the Kennedy assassination, the loss of the Vietnam War, and
the Nixon resignation, many disillusioned voters dropped out of
active involvement with government. This permitted large
corporation backed organizations and multi-millionaire/billionaires
to fill the void, aided by term limits and Citizens United, which
in turn allowed lobbyists and technocrats to use their legal power
and unlimited funds to takeover the machinery of government. With
well funded lobbyists and technocrats, supported by their lawyers,
controlling government operations, elected politicians on both a
state and a federal level have functionally become mere concierges
and enablers, not policy makers. Given this state of affairs,
voters have effectively lost the ability to influence government
through their representatives. But in the pages of "Lobbycratic
Governance" by Godrey Harris (who has been a public policy
consultant based in Los Angeles, California, since 1968, and began
consulting on government affairs after teaching American and
comparative government at UCLA and Rutgers) they now have a chance
to get that influence back by bringing to the fore a controversial,
but effective, electoral technique. Now with the rise of the
'indivisible' political protest movement, "Lobbycratic Governance"
will prove to be an invaluable instructional guide for anyone
seeking to wrest our political democracy from the corruptive
influence and control of Big Money. Simply stated, every community
and academic library should have a copy of "Lobbycratic Governance"
as part of their Political Science collection. Midwest Book
Review
By identifying the crisis of confidence that took place in the
American people that led to the current state of affairs, this book
illustrates the growing schism in partisan politics and how
lobbyists and special interests have moved in to stoke the division
between left and right while pushing through legislation that
benefits them through massive spending (It) aims to inspire its
readers by teaching them about the corruption of government and how
ordinary citizens can be empowered to overturn those mistakes. The
author is able to approach a volatile subject in a way that
transcends traditional party lines and provides a perspective that
avoids being condescending or blaming. That style proves to be one
of this books strongest assets, as it enables readers to learn and
form an opinion without feeling the reflexive need to become
defensive. Important, interesting, accessible Michael Raden, US
Book Reviews Dec 2018.
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