Re: Thomas Ferguson’s Golden Rule: criticism? compliments?
On Jul 11, 2006, at 1:52 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
Doug or anyone else on this list,
I was wondering if anyone has read Golden Rule : The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems by Thomas Ferguson.
If so what do you think of it? Any criticisms?
I haven’t read the book, but I’ve read a lot of Ferguson’s other
stuff, and am familiar with his argument. I think he underestimates
the degree to which big givers follow the polls; in his model, the
givers lead the electorate. There was a big shift in campaign
contribs to the Republicans after the 1994 sweep, and previously
Democratic houses like Goldman Sachs went Republican in the early
Bush years (i.e., not in 1998 or 1999).
Doug