Dangerous Convictions: What’s Really Wrong with the U.S. Congress

Allen, a former Democratic congressman from Maine and current president and CEO of the American Association of Publishers, offers a panoramic critique of Congress based on his 12 years in office (1997–2009), covering policy areas from the budget to health care. Since he left office four years ago, Allen says, Congress “has descended to new lows of dysfunctional partisanship and vanishing public trust.” Many centrists will agree that today’s Congress exhibits a frightening degree of factional bitterness. This combination of memoir and game plan will not astonish the Beltway crowd. Allen’s solutions generally align with moderate factions in the Democratic Party. Allen defends Obamacare and takes a polite swipe at Paul Ryan’s economic policies. His gauzy and rather naïve analysis of why “polarization”—the word he returns to throughout—has occurred is less convincing that his ample reflections based on personal experience. To explain conservative “rigidity,” for example, he recycles psychobabble about parenting styles and authoritarian personalities. However, Allen’s pragmatism and reason help frame major issues for Americans hungering for some legislative wisdom after the election. Agent: Mel Berger, WME. (Feb.)