Grassroots Tyranny

Shows how local government is sometimes the biggest violator of individual rights.

Shows how local government is sometimes the biggest violator of individual rights.

The protection of individual rights and the division of power between the national government and the states are core principles upon which American governance is built, but how well do these concepts work together and to what extent could they be at cross purposes? American Federalism and Individual Rights presents both of these founding concepts and explores their compatibility through policy-specific studies, including civil rights, education, marriage equality, and physician-assisted death. Written for anyone interested in American politics, the author presents all of the foundational information one would need to make their own assessment of how federalism works to either promote or undermine the protection of the individual in these policy areas along with suggestions for further study.

In Leviathan, renowned public interest attorney Bolick describes how the unchecked growth of local governments is eroding our nation's productive vitality and threatening us with "grassroots tyranny"—and ultimately reveals that, although the rules are often rigged in favor of local governments and against ordinary citizens, we can take action to rein in these bureaucracies.

Author Marsha Schweitzer built a career as a professional musician, arranger, arts administrator, and journalist that has spanned more than fifty years. During that time, through her many roles, she saw vast shifts in the landscape of the arts. The Arts from the Bottom Up presents a collection of articles, letters, essays, and notes Schweitzer wrote between 1978 and 2017 as she journeyed through the nooks and crannies of the arts. Working in three parts, she begins at the bottom, with the mundane day-to-day aspects of the arts, and moves up to the organizational and spiritual aspects. "Power Play" explores the artistic workplace, with emphasis on unions and labor relations. "In Service to the Art" considers the arts from a broader perspective, addressing issues of organizational structure, governance, finance, and administration. "Peregrinations of a Pensive Artist" deals with the nature and meaning of the underlying and overarching art that ties artists, organizations, and audiences together. Throughout, she seeks to help artists break out of the deep ruts of tradition and conformity and look at problems from new and different angles.

In this innovative grassroots to global study, Kathleen Mapes explores how the sugar beet industry transformed the rural Midwest by introducing large factories, contract farming, and foreign migrant labor. Identifying rural areas as centers for modern American industrialism, Mapes contributes to an ongoing reorientation of labor history from urban factory workers to rural migrant workers. She engages with a full range of individuals, including Midwestern family farmers, industrialists, Eastern European and Mexican immigrants, child laborers, rural reformers, Washington politicos, and colonial interests. Engagingly written, Sweet Tyranny demonstrates that capitalism was not solely a force from above but was influenced by the people below who defended their interests in an ever-expanding imperialist market.