cover image The Democrats Must Lead: The Case for a Progressive Democratic Party

The Democrats Must Lead: The Case for a Progressive Democratic Party

. Westview Press, $61 (279pp) ISBN 978-0-8133-1569-0

This collection of advocacy essays by liberal academics goes against some conventional wisdom in claiming that Democrats can win only ``by appealing to a liberal constituency with liberal values.'' Most telling is Jerome Mileur's argument, based on an analysis of the 1988 presidential race, that the Democrats should abandon the South and seek votes in the growing Western states, which are more philosophically compatible with the party's Northeastern base. Samuel Bowles, David M. Gordon and Thomas Weisskopf call for an ``economic democracy'' that eliminates inequities, discrimination and dependency on employer or spouse; they also call for an increase in public, democratically controlled investment. Other useful essays emphasize that the U.S. should rely more on the United Nations and respect international human rights and that voter registration should be simplified to increase participation. While this book is aimed at a general audience, a few essays--on political parties and use of television--are dry and academic, and others--on women and Latinos--lack subtlety in their analysis of those constituencies. Burns is the author of The Crosswinds of Freedom ; Duke is associate professor of political science at Clemson University. (June)