The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted by Mike Lofgren

Sep 29, 2012 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars

More than anything "The Party Is Over" is a very well structured, thorough, well articulated and well informed rant; by a disgruntled ex, who has left recently enough for it to be very relevant today.

Like any information from a disgruntled ex, it's accurate, caustic, scathing and pointed; and I consider it a perfect counterpoint to Deer Hunting With Jesus, a similar book about the problems with the Democrats from a couple of terms of office ago.

I was a little surprised that there wasn't a chapte...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Liana Giorgi rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book is about “America’s broken political system: how it got that way, who benefits, and who loses.” A pretty lofty goal—yet, surprise, surprise, the answers are simple: America’s political system is broken because it has come to be dominated by special interests; the main beneficiary is corporate finance; whereas citizens are to be found on the losers’ side—and still they too are to blame because they are stupid and, therefore, can be easily manipulated. This critique applies to the GOP esp...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Dean Lisle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most concise and precise discussion of our broken political system I have read. Cuts unequivocally to the quick, and on top of that, written by a Republican insider! Exceptional indeed. An absolute "must read" for anyone who imagines himself or herself to be an informed voter.

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Apr 01, 2013 Kmjahraus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Count me among the rising number of Americans fed up with politics as usual. Deeply disillusioned with the endless clamor and cacophony of confrontation and crisis fear mongering that is the public theatre of our highest American politicians, holding America hostage as they retreat behind party battle lines, red and blue flags waving high.

And then I was lent Mike Lofgren's Washington politics expose. Written with clarity, wit and angst on what passes for federal government today he reflects on t...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Abigail rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Abigail by: Damit Senanayake

The title of the book sounds kind-of fatalistic, but the subtitle should’ve concluded: “And What Can Be Done.” Despite the inevitable downside of reading about the decline of a formerly functional system, I finished the book with hope that the fix is not so complicated.

The author is a long-time Congressional staffer with close ties to the Republican party who finally became so disillusioned in early 2012 that he left and wrote this book. As such the book focuses mostly on the Republican party, b...more The title of the book sounds kind-of fatalistic, but the subtitle should’ve concluded: “And What Can Be Done.” Despite the inevitable downside of reading about the decline of a formerly functional system, I finished the book with hope that the fix is not so complicated.

The author is a long-time Congressional staffer with close ties to the Republican party who finally became so disillusioned in early 2012 that he left and wrote this book. As such the book focuses mostly on the Republican party, but not because the Democrats don’t deserve criticism; more because (as he states) he obviously knows the Republican party better, and also, in my opinion, because their decline needs more explanation to be understood.

I will summarize the book for those who might read the review and know they will never read the book: (view spoiler)[“Back in the day” — let’s say the 1950s and 60s — Big Business as represented by the Republicans and Big Labor as represented by the Democrats pretty well balanced each other out. The parties compromised to get things done. For reasons external to this book, Big Labor declined in power toward the end of the 20th century, which meant that donations to finance Democratic campaigns declined, and Republicans became more successful. Naturally they felt obliged to give benefits to big business and the incredibly wealthy, who were bankrolling their efforts, and as often as not they themselves benefited. The Democrats became useless (per the title) because they were forced to get money from corporations and the wealthy in order to compete, which meant their former position of opposition to the Republicans was now suffering a conflict of interest, and they thus became uncertain and wishy-washy. In addition to funding, the Republicans have done a better job influencing the media and the public through the use of clever language, fear-mongering and, yes, religious affiliation. Small example: which is more memorable, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” or “Obamacare”? Hence the Republicans controlled even the linguistic terms of the debate over Obama’s keystone legislation. Moreover, once the Democrats were in power, it was actually in Republicans’ best interest to be as obstructionist as possible so that they could campaign on the platform that “government is broken and you need change” — even though it’s largely their fault that “government” got nothing accomplished.

“[T]he commanding heights of corporate America—the banks, the military-industrial complex, corporate interests benefiting from huge subsidies like Big Pharma and Big Oil—largely have the government they want. They have the tax structure they desire.”

So what can be done? The author’s suggestion is as simple as it is revolutionary. Since the first cause of the problem, in his view, is the unbelievable amount of money poured into election campaigns and lobbying by wealthy individuals and corporations (who are now, unbelievably, people too), “The place to start is the flow of money going into elections. … The only rational response… is to scrap the whole system and start from square one. Get money out of elections—get all private money out of our public elections.” Elections would be publicly funded; requirements for getting on the ballot could be “high enough to eliminate nuisance candidates but not so high as to prevent legitimate alternatives to the two parties from participating”; campaign season would be limited (who would mind that?); and television stations would be obliged to run a certain number of minutes of ads, only during campaign season, free of charge and in balanced proportion (they’re making money by using airwaves permitted by the federal government, so it’s not too big a request).

He concedes, “Many people would no doubt find utopian, if not otherworldly, what I have just advocated… It is a telling commentary on what Americans really think about their so-called democracy that changing such a relatively simple and straightforward thing as the financing mechanism for elections is perceived as an unachievable fantasy.” He presents plenty more suggestions, but his point is that all the idealism in the world is useless if it can never get enacted. (hide spoiler)]

The book is easy to read (full disclosure: I skimmed most of the part explaining the problems, which I found interesting and useful but didn’t have enough time to fully delve into, and read thoroughly the last chapter of suggestions) and very timely. Since the author’s bias is plainly stated, it’s easy to read without feeling like he has a chip on his shoulder; he’s disillusioned but not necessarily disgruntled. Moreover, everything he says makes sense. The intractability of the current government is no longer a mystery; it’s just the result of a bunch of selfish people acting less and less for the interest of Americans at large. His final suggestion may be the most important and the hardest to accomplish: where will we find the idealistic people who’ll be willing to wade into the fray of government to enact the change?(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Marty rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a very important book because it explains the last 30 years of events in Washington that have brought us to where we are today. I can imagine that most of these events will not be covered in the history books that look back on this era. The author worked worked in Washington for 30 years, so he has an inside view of the take-over of corporations, the push toward the Iraq war, the mis-use of non-profit status, the rise of religious influence in politics, the rise of anti-intellectualism a...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Aaron Michaux rated it 5 of 5 stars

Want to know the personal thoughts of a Washington Insider? Lofgren was a senior GOP policy analyst privy to sensitive negotiations and classified information, having almost 30 years experience with budget and defense portfolios. In wells structured and short book, he wittily and passionately describes the somewhat shocking institutional incompetence and corruption on the hill.

The most interesting aspects of the book deal with the GOPs descent into intractable anti-intellectual partisanship, and...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

Some of us are old enough to remember when "intelligent conservative Republican" wasn't an oxymoron. Here's a book written by that almost extinct species. A wonderful tour d'horizon about how we got where we are. While Lofgren mainly focuses on Republicans - since he'd worked on the Hill for Republicans, including 16 years as a senior analyst on the House and Senate budget committees - the Democrats don't escape unscathed. He excoriates the Obama administration for "looking forward" and refusing...more Some of us are old enough to remember when "intelligent conservative Republican" wasn't an oxymoron. Here's a book written by that almost extinct species. A wonderful tour d'horizon about how we got where we are. While Lofgren mainly focuses on Republicans - since he'd worked on the Hill for Republicans, including 16 years as a senior analyst on the House and Senate budget committees - the Democrats don't escape unscathed. He excoriates the Obama administration for "looking forward" and refusing to investigate/prosecute those in the Bush administration who sanctioned illegal, unconstitutional actions such as torture, rendition, indefinite detention - and he points out that the Obama administration has actually continued and further institutionalized some of the egregious, illegal activities of the Bush administration.
Lofgren exposes the hypocrisy of legislators claiming to be for small government/reduced spending while they vote to further engorge the bloated Department of Defense, to give just one example. Chapters explore, inter alia, tactics, the Constitution, taxes, science, media, religion. Lofgren's conversational style makes for an easy read, but there's some real truth here - and occasionally he breaks the tension with a lovely turn-of-phrase: "The GOP's inflated rhetoric about protecting small business occasionally reaches such comic levels that one is hard-pressed to ditinguish it from satire. In September 2011, House Republicans issued a report condemning the supposedly job-killing regulations of the Obama administration. The administration had proposed a rule to restrict the trade in Burmese pythons, a huge, highly dangerous, and invasive species of snake that has been devastating wildlife in the Everglades and, should it prove adaptable to colder climates, could spread northward as far as coastal Delaware. The Republican concluded that banning a reptile that can swallon an alligator or a small childe might 'devastate a small but thriving sector of the economy' and that the rule 'has significant implications for small businesses across the United States.' Now that I think about it, I wonder whether the Republicans' pro-snake position is based on their economic philosophy, or whether it is professional courtesy toward reptiles."
Lofgren's "devil'sdictionary of contemporary American political terms" is not to be missed. Two examples: "American Exceptionalism: a doctrine whose proponents hold that by divine dispensation America is exempt from all laws governing international norms, physics, or rationality. ... rogue state: a country that violates international law by committing armed aggression, torturing prisoners, assassinating opponents, and possessing weapons of mass destruction. cf: American Exceptionalism."
And Lofgren doesn't let us citizens off the hook: shut off the reality shows, he writes, and get informed about what's happening in the world. Be able to locate Syria on a map!
Highly recommend for anyone who cares about our democracy, regardless of how you describe your politics!(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Patrick Eddington rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

Because I've worked on Capitol Hill for nearly a decade and was a lobbyist for nearly as long before that, Lofgren's account resonated with me from start to finish. Much of what he had to say about his party (the Republicans) was not news to me, but he's a good story teller with a talent for the turn of phrase. A sampling:

How did Republicans manage to seize control of the way Americans speak about public life? Democrats do not understand the power of language. Their initiatives are posed in impe

...more Because I've worked on Capitol Hill for nearly a decade and was a lobbyist for nearly as long before that, Lofgren's account resonated with me from start to finish. Much of what he had to say about his party (the Republicans) was not news to me, but he's a good story teller with a talent for the turn of phrase. A sampling:

How did Republicans manage to seize control of the way Americans speak about public life? Democrats do not understand the power of language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? Can anyone even remember that? No wonder the pejorative "Obamacare" won out. (from Ch. 4)

But the larger objective, beyond specific policies, is to blanket the American public with a message of fear. As long as we are fearful, as long as there is anendless list of threats, Pentagon spending can never be cut, PATRIOT Act provisions can never be repealed, and the United States will forever have the right and duty to meddle in every corner of the world. (from Ch. 6)

Did Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army enlisted man who gave thousands of pages of sensitive government documents to the website Wikileaks, damage national security? Perhaps he did, but no reasonable person with any experience in government should have taken the government at its word when it attempted to justify holding him without charge or legal counsel and in abusive conditions. Especially not when senior administration officials from both parties also leak classified information to the press to further their objectives. National security secrets have become degraded to the status of gossipy tidbits for the press. I am sure a Venn diagram of persons who want to boil Bradley Manning in oil would hardly intersect a diagram of persons who wanted similar treatment meted out to Scooter Libby for blowing the cover of a covert CIA officer--an extremely serious matter. (from Ch. 8)

What interested me was his take on the other party I used to belong to--the Democrats. This, from the introduction, gives you a taste:

The Democratic Party coasted far too long on Franklin D. Roosevelt's legacy. It became complacent and began to feel entitled to its near hegemonic position in politics, culture and the media. When the New Right increasingly began to displace it in all three of those arenas, some liberals merely turned into ineffectual whiners and crybabies or ivory tower escapists. The bulk of Democratic politcians and operatives, however, moved in a different direction. After three straight losses in presidential elections between 1980 and 1988, they abandoned the practices of their old beliefs while continuing to espouse them in theory. These new Democrats will say anything to win an election--an objective that, in their minds, generally requires them to emulate Republicans, particularly with respect to moneygrubbing on the fund-raising circuit. Many of them only last a term or two, because if people want a Republican they will vote for the real thing. What has evolved in America over the last three decades is a one-and-a-half-party system, as Democrats opportunistically cleave to the "center," which, in the relativistic universe of American politics, keeps moving further to the right.

And this, from his full chapter on the Democrats, lays out what many progressives (and probably many independent) voters feel after Obama's first term:

Many left-leaning think tanks, like the Center for American Progress, handle the same executive branch usurpations that they criticized when Bush was in office less by explicitly praising them (for that would be too blatantly hypocritical) as by adopting a see-no-evil approach. A pervasive mentality appears to have taken over among establishment Democrats that we live under a government of men (and women) rather than laws. Illegal surveillance, indefinite detention, unlimited executive war powers, and the whole menu of executive branch encroachments were a grave breach of the Constitution, decency, and common sense when practiced by a Republican president. But now that a Democrat is in office, it is different. He is one of our people and can be trusted to wield power responsibly. He won't spy on us. He won't detain us without charge. There;s no way he'll assassinate us (a power Bush never explicitly claimed). With this attitude, establishment Democrats only mirror the right-wing Republicans who cheered the PATRIOT Act, denounced criticism of illegal wiretapping, and favored all manner of of illegality. They believed that they, too, were immune from having their rights violated by the government so long as "their guy" was in power.

If the book has a weakness, it's the last chapter, which contains Lofgren's solutions for our current political plight: getting all private money out of public campaigns, congressional redistricting by nonpartisan commissions, a limited campaign season, etc. Most of what Lofgren proposes has been put forward by others, in most cases long ago. None of that makes Lofgren's suggestions less valid. The book is a must-read if you want to better understand our dangerously dysfunctional political culture.(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is an insider's view of the current failure of the American two-party political system (the author was a Congressional staffer for over 20 years). Given the author's Republican Party affiliation, it is not surprising that the majority of his criticism is levied at that party. Yet his indictment also extends to the Democratic Party, which is as beholden to big business and lobbyists as are the Republicans. As he correctly points out, one cannot trust any politician who says that he can cut t...more This is an insider's view of the current failure of the American two-party political system (the author was a Congressional staffer for over 20 years). Given the author's Republican Party affiliation, it is not surprising that the majority of his criticism is levied at that party. Yet his indictment also extends to the Democratic Party, which is as beholden to big business and lobbyists as are the Republicans. As he correctly points out, one cannot trust any politician who says that he can cut taxes and balance the budget at the same time (a la George W. Bush, who initiated two extremely costly wars while cutting taxes, thereby driving the USG budget from a surplus under Clinton to huge deficits in only 8 years). The author decries the strong influence of religious extremism on the political parties, the propensity of the parties to jump at war as a first recourse in settling international differences, and the feeling on the part of both parties that they need to kowtow to the needs of those who donate to their campaign funds instead of working in the interest of the general welfare of the country and the people. He does not forgive the voters, however, because it is their lack of knowledge and interest in foreign policy, domestic policy and government, which allows politicians to return time and again to the halls of Congress. His answer, which makes sense to me, is to forbid private financing of political campaigns and have all campaigns funded by the government; to limit the time periods of campaigns (say Labor Day to November) and to prohibit paid political commercials on TV (stations would instead provide free air time equally to all politicians running for office). These are not new ideas, but they are presented in a refreshingly stark manner by the author. The question is: How do such measures get instituted when we have politicians whose political survival rely and depend on private donations. The answer: it is we, the voters, who must ultimately insist on a change in the way we are governed and in the way we elect our public officials.(less)

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Sep 17, 2012 Judie rated it 5 of 5 stars

If I could write the review THE PARTY IS OVER : How the Republican Went CRAZY, Democrats Became USELESS, and the Middle Class Got SHAFTED deserves, it would take an article the size of a magazine article.
Mike Lofgren worked for US Representative John Kasich, first on the House Armed Services Committee and then the House Budget Committee. In 2012, he finished his 28-years on the Hill working for Senator Judd Gregg, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Both of his bosses were Republican. He...more If I could write the review THE PARTY IS OVER : How the Republican Went CRAZY, Democrats Became USELESS, and the Middle Class Got SHAFTED deserves, it would take an article the size of a magazine article.
Mike Lofgren worked for US Representative John Kasich, first on the House Armed Services Committee and then the House Budget Committee. In 2012, he finished his 28-years on the Hill working for Senator Judd Gregg, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Both of his bosses were Republican. He retired when “my own party, politicians became more and more intransigently dogmatic.” He didn’t think they believed what they said but were playing to “an increasingly deranged political base that does believe it.”
He examines how the GOP decided its main objective was to make Obama a one-term president. Their method was to not support any of his programs (even those they had originally suggested) on the theory that the voters would be so upset they would blame Obama for not solving the country’s problems.
He says the GOP decided it could ignore its traditional base (the educated, affluent suburban voter) and get new support by focusing on issues such as Gay Marriage and Abortion.
With statistics comparing longevity, infant mortality, income distribution, labor protection on a global scale, he sees the US getting closer to the Third World than the advanced state it has been for decades.
Lofgren details how the Republican party has changed (not for the better) since the days of Lincoln and how the Democratic party became impotent. He begins by discussing the tactics used by the Republicans. He refers to the Republican Party as “an oligarchy with a well-developed public relations strategy designed to sooth and anesthetize its followers with appeals to tradition, security, and family even as it pursues a radical agenda that would transform the country into a Dickensian corporatocraphy at home and a belligerent military empire abroad.”
After 9/11, under the administration of George W. Bush, many of our constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech, protection against government surveillance, undermining due process, sanctioning torture were abandoned in the guise of protecting “the Homeland.” Barack Obama continued these abominations.
The chapter “A Devil’s Dictionary” shows how words were used to confuse and sway citizens. “Elites” became pejorative and possibly un-American even though Bush and Romney went to Harvard and/or Yale. Free-market is an “economic system by which Halliburton gets sole-source, cost-plus government contracts.” “Global Warming” is called a hoax even as we are experiencing major weather changes and almost all reputable scientists acknowledge it. “Sharia law” is a fundamentalist religious doctrine forced on people. It does not include laws restricting access to legal abortions.
In his official duties, Lofgren saw how the change in tax laws (while waging two wars) created an unprecedented deficit (following a surplus in 2001) and widened the gap between the richest 1% of Americans and the remaining 99% to a never before seen division.
While acknowledging the reduced role of the traditional media (newspapers, network television news), the criticizes the media’s failure to investigate and their eagerness to give equal balance to unequal sides.
His chapter on religion details how the Fundamentalist Christian Right is trying (sometimes successfully) to turn the US into a theocracy based on their ideas. Another chapter talks about the anti-intellectual atmosphere that has developed. People vote for the person they would like to have a beer with rather than the person best able to lead.
Americans today have more access to information about the rest of the world, thanks to the internet, but are abysmally ignorant of what is going on,
President Barack Obama is severely criticized for continuing many of the programs that he complained about when Bush was president and the Democrats are so disorganized that they have been unable to change things and, in many cases, have cooperated.
He does offer some suggestions to get out of this mess including non-politically determined redistricting, public financing of elections.
The fact that Mike Lofgren was a Republican working for Republican lawmakers and seeing what was happening behind the scenes makes this book a must-read for anyone trying to figure out what has happened with our country.
(less)

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Oct 29, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Lofgren, a former capitol hill budget staffer under several Republican lawmakers, is disillusioned with the current state of the Republican party, being more of a Ron Paul Republican, and this book is his missive on what is wrong with politics. Being a Republican (or at least former Republican, I don't know) this book focuses more on R bashing but his points apply to both major political parties and more so to the public at large. Lofgren thinks there is too much money in politics, too much corp...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Ricardo Salvador rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an informative and enjoyable exposé.The single most refreshing aspect of Lofgren's book is that it establishes that cynical politicians know exactly what they are doing as they appear to bumble from one episode of leadership and governing ineptitude to the next. He writes intelligently, with the insider authority of a legislative staffer with decades of experience, and as someone who clearly never lost his wits as he served within the belly of the beast. Lofgren runs down the various str...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a well written work on our current political state. For the most part, it substantiated my
beliefs of governmental dysfunction and corruption by big monied interests.
"Money has overtaken politics so
completely that factional interests are now simply competing
to buy votes. As long as the monied interests are doing well (and they are)
it neither matters who's in the White house or if there's Congressional gridlock.

Although most interesting - especially the many ways to restrict voting engin...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: leadership, politics-and-government

Why haven't I heard more on this book? Hands down the best book on politics and government I have read in the past few months. Mr. Lofgren is a former long time congressional staff member, a Republican, and he pulls no punches to lay into both parties. He backs it with data and trends. Several other books I've read have some of the same themes but Mr. Lofgren goes deeper and explains how things got the way they have. He is an old conservative Republican. The kind that was truly conservative in t...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Heather in FL rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-i-own-it, audio, thinking-books, z-from-audible

So this is just scary. And sad that our political system has gotten to the point where we are now. We don't have elected officials. We have people bought and paid for by American corporations. Or big wigs. Who are usually associated with those corporations. OR super religious people whose beliefs don't seem to have evolved with the rest of the nation, who have huge audiences of their own, who want to keep the status quo. And the people lifted up by these influential organizations are willing to...more So this is just scary. And sad that our political system has gotten to the point where we are now. We don't have elected officials. We have people bought and paid for by American corporations. Or big wigs. Who are usually associated with those corporations. OR super religious people whose beliefs don't seem to have evolved with the rest of the nation, who have huge audiences of their own, who want to keep the status quo. And the people lifted up by these influential organizations are willing to say or do whatever they need to in order to keep their power.

That's definitely a blanket statement and I think it applies mostly to a minority in the parties, but they are the most influential and outspoken members of the parties. In order to try to keep some optimism, I have to believe there are people -- maybe not the elected members themselves, but on the payroll -- who are there to really make a GOOD difference. They're not looking for accolades or power, they just see a problem and want to try to help fix it.

But even the whole process seems so freaking screwed up. When a defense bill can have a line item about abortion included, there's an issue. Two freaking polar opposite issues, but in order to pass it, someone made a concession that somehow tied defense to abortion. That kind of thing should be outlawed. As should filibustering. And redistricting.

Another thing I'd *really* love to see is a viable third party. I find it highly hypocritical that there are international Democratic and Republican organizations that cry foul when other countries' democratic elections appear to squeeze out a party's representation, but look what happened to Paul Rand at one of the debates. They would not let him in. The man was running for president, but because he wasn't Republican or Democrat, he was not welcome to debate them. It just seems like anymore I'm choosing the one I dislike least or will at least not degrade my comfort level rather than one I feel passionate will make my life better. Nobody represents ME anymore.

So anyway, the author had a lot of interesting topics and anecdotes. While the Republican party got slammed (that's what he knew best), it's not like he left the Democrats spotless. They have their hands dirty as well. And, believe it or not, he believes real change will happen with the Mellinials, when the baby boomers pass. The baby boomers still have such socially conservative values, and, because of their size, they are draining the "entitlement programs" they hold so dear.

It was definitely food for thought. Lots of great information. And lots to make me scared of the immediate future, especially if the parties can't figure out how to get along and compromise.

I think I'm going to have to buy this book in DTB form. There was a lot of interesting information, and I'd like to just flip through a book and read as opposed to trying to find the right passage in audio. (less)

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Sep 28, 2012 Skip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Lofgren is a Republican staffer who started in the 80s and gradually grew disillusioned with the direction the party moved, eventually retiring and writing this book. He's very up front about this, and uses lots of anecdotes from his time on Capitol Hill in the writing. The majority of the book rips into just about every aspect of the current Republican party, with frequent asides pointing out how the Democrats aren't any better.

Underlying everything is the primary point of the book...there's t...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although I had to consult the dictionary a few times, I thought Mike Lofgren presented a clearly-written, well-supported explanation of politics today. I did find myself double-checking the book jacket to confirm that he had indeed been a Republican staffer, because he's pretty brutal in his criticisms of the current Republican Party; Democrats don't exactly escape unscathed in this book, though. After finishing the book, I do wish there had been more on the middle class specifically. Much of hi...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Ken Sweet rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone dissatisfied with the current political machine.

A recently separated insider's look at the politics and inner workings of the "new" Republican party, Lofgren is well-qualified, having worked with and for some of the biggest names in the GOP, and he offers a scathing review of Washington's ineptitude. Not all of it is aimed at the GOP. While dissecting the issues that many believe have caused dissension and hypocrisy within the Republican party, he also examines how he believes the Democrats have followed suit. I enjoyed this book, and was sur...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Keith Davis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lofgren was a long time Republican operative in Congress who after retirement walked away from his party in disgust. This book is his look back in anger at a political party he once believed in but watched being taken over by theocrats who want to use the power of government to impose their religious beliefs on others and by plutocrats who care about nothing but rewarding the billionaires who bankroll their reelection campaigns with tax cuts and no-bid contracts. He has no kind words for the Dem...more

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Feb 13, 2013 E.G. Fabricant rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mike Lofgren was mad as Hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore.

So, after almost 30 years staffing congressional Republicans as a budget, defense, and national security expert, he quit the party and his job and posted his reasons on Truthout.

That was September 3, 2011; a year later, he published a book.

Should you read it? Only if you love our system and institutions of governance and fear for our future as a true—and not a banana—republic.

[Read the rest of my review here]

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Sep 29, 2012 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is from a guy that knows. In particular I like his description of one President whose goal was medical insurance and a living wage for all. The current bunch would not recognize Richard Nixon. Or, how about President Eisenhower investing in education and building highways. And, his now unheeded warnings of the military industrial complex. With the current Party Of No, it's good to do as Deep Throat suggested Woodstein do: Follow The Money. Who stands to gain from a Romney/Ryan victory? The...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Joan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I didn't know if I should cry or leave the country after reading this book. Lofgren worked for 35 years for a Republican Senator. One of the most depressing books I have ever read. Lofgren tells how our government has been taken over by money and corporations. Our leaders cannot stand up because they have been purchased by greedy, uncaring people who do not care about the country's future. I hope that a future leader has the power and morals to stand up and do what is right. I think that is what...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-star, non-fiction, read-in-2013

I enjoyed seeing the Republicans taken to task, especially by one of their own, but I was a bit disappointed that there was little said about the Democrats other than "they suck, too" (to paraphrase, if you will). The bottom line, if you haven't been paying attention, is that all three branches of government are on their knees and ready if you're part of the corporate elite.

Meanwhile we, the people, are just on our knees -- but hey, we've got reality tv (and video games, guilty-as-charged) so w

...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Dave rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author spends 90 percent of the book poking a stick at the GOP, five percent of the book poking a stick at the Dems and another five percent with how to fix it, which was nothing more than addressing the obvious as to what's wrong with the system (money in elections, etc). Get money out of elections? Fat chance of that happening any time soon. I've soured on the Republican "brand" because of the uber-right wing hijacking the party, but I found this book a little too one-sided. Overall, a pre...more

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Mar 06, 2013 John G. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very telling and no-holds barred approach to our current political morass. More and more, I only trust disgruntled insiders, people ofm integrity who have given up on the decency of our current "leaders" and are pissed off enough and willing to risk taking a few hits to share the truth with us. This guy is definitely an insider, having been in politics at pretty high levels until he decided he couldn't drink any more of the Kool Aid without serious damage to his soul. Like it too that he's a Rep...more

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Sep 12, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: political-science

Mike Lofgren's book - an insider's view on the dysfunctional madhouse that is also known as Congress. If you have not been playing close attention to the political dysfunction in the country over the past few years, you may be shocked to read this Republican's views on Congress in general and his own party in particular. This book makes a great companion to Mann and Ornstein's It's Even Worse Than it Looks. Whereas, the latter is a scholarly, academic exploration of this complete breakdown in th...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book broke my heart. I was a poli sci undergrad and have become more and more disillusioned in the decades since I graduated; I found in this book an explanation for all my disappointments described in painful detail. After the first several chapters I put the book down to let my blood pressure return to normal. After 3/4 of the book, I skipped to the last chapter because I just didn't want to read another example of what was wrong -- I wanted to know whether the offer had concrete ideas ab...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Clifdisc rated it 4 of 5 stars

For anyone who has been paying attention over the past several decades, there is nothing revelatory in Mike Lofgren's but it is a nice summation of the current sad state of affairs with some good historical context and inside perspective. As a progressive, I mostly found myself nodding my head. Given Lofgren's conservative credentials, I'd love to say that this is a book that I could give to my conservative friends who are frustrated with their party but Lofgren is so disillusioned and the Overt...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Evidence of what you believe was happening was happening and a rather frightful look at how we have let the money-lenders into the temple of government with disastrous results. Particularly damning of the Republicans because the author is/was a Republican in Congress, but provides proof that the Democrats were equally culpable.
(p. 62, 72, left off at p. 80)

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title link	preview: The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted
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The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted

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