The Horrifying Consequences of America’s Unchecked ‘Politics Industry’—and What To Do About It.

My 20th book was published on Tuesday. It’s called “The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy.”

Along with my co-author, former CEO Katherine M. Gehl, a preeminent national politics expert, and on-the-ground leader, I’m donating all the proceeds from “The Politics Industry” to The Institute for Political Innovation, the not-for-profit organization Katherine is founding to catalyze nonpartisan political change in states across America.

Over the past several years this work has become my obsession. Why? Because I have come to believe that none of my other work on new policy thinking will ever be able to reach its full potential, with its policy insights actually implemented, without structural changes to the nature of the American political system.  

As we write in the book, “the causalities of the unchecked and unbalanced politics industry are everywhere—the health of our democracy, our long-term economic competitiveness, and our shared prosperity and social progress—three pillars of the American experiment.”

America is in trouble. And while 2020 has provided ample evidence of our inability to deliver results—particularly around crisis preparedness and racial equity—we have numerous pre-existing conditions. When compared with the 37 other peer democratic countries with advanced economies on the Social Progress Index, America’s standing is shocking. 

And this is just a sampling of our multi-dimensional decline relative to the rest of the developed world. Our citizens often lack access to the most basic essentials. Despite spending far more than any other nation on health care, Americans are not living longer, healthier lives. Our communities are disturbingly unsafe. And core rights enshrined in the Constitution—from equal rights to freedom of expression to access to justice—are also under threat.

Our society is fracturing. What do we do?

We must pivot, together, translating dire straits and diagnosis to the promise of political innovation. We must channel frustrated energy into targeted individual action—especially from business leaders. More from the book:

“A functioning, healthy democracy is a public resource greater in its value than our key institutions like infrastructure, our education system, or the environment because each of these critical dimensions of the American experience advance and decline with the trajectory of our politics. This is a time when businesses and business leaders are uniquely positioned to grapple with improving our government and help protect our public resources.”

Katherine and I are all in. 

We now have a book to build on. And political innovation is already gaining momentum in states around the country due to the great work of many impressive leaders.

Here’s how you can learn more about how politics in America really works, and what to do about it:

Indiebound

Amazon

Barnes & Noble