Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface: The Shutdown
- Acknowledgments
- Tides of Consent
- 1 Opinion Flows
- 2 What the Public Wants from Government
- 3 Left and Right Movements in Preference
- 4 The Great Horse Race: Finding Meaning in Presidential Campaigns
- 5 Between the Campaigns: Public Approval and Disapproval of Government
- 6 On Politics at the Margin
- Bibliography
- Index
Preface: The Shutdown
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface: The Shutdown
- Acknowledgments
- Tides of Consent
- 1 Opinion Flows
- 2 What the Public Wants from Government
- 3 Left and Right Movements in Preference
- 4 The Great Horse Race: Finding Meaning in Presidential Campaigns
- 5 Between the Campaigns: Public Approval and Disapproval of Government
- 6 On Politics at the Margin
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Bill Clinton was repudiated. The 1994 congressional elections, a triumph for the Republicans and their “Contract with America,” left newly elevated House Speaker Newt Gingrich in charge, proclaiming the president of the United States “irrelevant.” What ensued, in two stages, was a rare attempt at congressional government, at setting the public agenda from Capitol Hill. The first stage was the “contract,” a series of carefully staged votes in the first 100 days of the new Congress. Nine of ten items passed, some surprisingly easily, although the Republican Senate, less enthusiastic by far, was slow to follow up and Bill Clinton stood ready to veto most of what did get Senate approval.
The second stage, unlike the first, was not raised for public debate during the elections. It was an attempt to alter fundamentally the shape of the federal budget. With the enthusiasm born of being newly in control, Gingrich and the Republicans set out to achieve the goal that had always eluded Republicans, that had eluded even Ronald Reagan: to cut down on scale of government in the domestic sphere. They would pass a budget that would zero out spending programs (for example, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) and that would actually reduce spending across the board for health care, education, environment, and welfare. Cutting welfare was popular, had always been. But when Gingrich opined that orphanages weren't such a bad way to deal with dependent children, the public was reminded that welfare cuts might not be costless.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tides of ConsentHow Public Opinion Shapes American Politics, pp. xi - xxPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004