Lexington Books Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition Of Decentralism

Featuring a foreword by Congressman Glen Browder, Politics on a Human Scale examines political decentralization in the United States, from the founding of the republic to the present. Part of the desirable equilibrium is a sense of proportionality. Some sizes, some amounts, some levels are more appropriate than others. Decentralism is the best political tool to ensure equilibrium, to promote proportionality, and to obtain appropriate scale. Power distribution should be as wide as possible. Government functions should be as close to the people as practicable. In this way, individual human beings are not swallowed by a monstrous Leviathan. Persons are not at the mercy of an impersonal bureaucracy led by the far-away few. Decentralism gives us politics on a human scale. It gives us more democracy within the framework of a republic. The longest chapters in the book deal with crucial turning points in U.S. history-specifically, when decentralists lost the upper-hand in the two major political parties. Decentralism in our nation runs deep, both intellectually and historically. It also has considerable popular support. Yet today it is a virtual political orphan. In Washington, neither major political party is serious about dispersing power to lower levels of government or to the people themselves. Still, there are dissident politicians and political movements that remain committed to the decentralist principle. Power needs to be held in check, partly through decentralization, because power holds a great and dangerous attraction for humans. Recognition of this human tendency is the first step in guarding against it and getting back on a better path. Review Any serious study of how the American federalist system was transformed into the centralized Leviathan State that it is today should include Jeff Taylor's book Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition of Decentralism. The great value of this book is the breadth and depth with which its author covers the subject matter. With the aid of over 500 bibliographical sources, Dr. Taylor recounts the story of how both major political parties ultimately came to reject their Jeffersonian elements in favor of Hamiltonian big government. . . .Rather than regurgitating the same simplistic, generalized narrative found in most American history books, Taylor's narrative, much of which gainsays the conventional wisdom, is a meticulous rehashing of the specific beliefs, behaviors, and connections between several key political figures and the movements which they inspired. . . .Jeff Taylor provides the most comprehensive work on the history of decentralism which I have ever come across. This book is a must read for anyone who hopes to have a well-rounded understanding of how America got to this point and where things might be heading from here. There can be little doubt that Dr. Taylor's contribution to the Jeffersonian tradition will be of great service in the fight to restore Politics on a Human Scale.--Reformed Libertarian The book is packed with elegantly developed historical observations and erudite observations. . . All things considered, Jeff Taylor provides the best available account of the varied ways partisan interaction and electoral competition shaped decentralism's development and subsequent demise in America. Now that we are better positioned to comprehend how decentralism fell on hard times, and how its decline complicated the prospect for American cultural flourishing, we are empowered to make headway toward Politics on a Human Scale.--Front Porch Republic This book is engagingly written, and the notes and source materials would provide the raw materials for a true conservative renaissance. ... Politics on a Human Scale is both a solid history and inspiring polemic.--Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture This is an ambitious examination of America's traditional rejection of centralized government and its embrace of dispersed power a