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Back Bay Books

The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point

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Format: Paperback


Description

Taking as an example the Clinton health care reform initiative, the authors show how a policy that aimed to please everyone ended by satisfying no one due to pressure groups, political gamesmanship and the inertia of the American 'system'. Read more


Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (April 1, 1997)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 704 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316111457


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 54


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.97 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.77 x 8.5 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #949 in Health Policy (Books) #2,629 in Health Care Delivery (Books) #8,326 in History & Theory of Politics


#949 in Health Policy (Books):


#2,629 in Health Care Delivery (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Our rulers speak. Pay attention, proles!
If you read this book in the wrong frame of mind, you won't like it. The wrong frame is to believe that it consists of honest reporting about the U.S. health care system, and the Clinton health bill of `93. It's mainly not reporting. It's advocacy. The key is found in the intro, where the authors define "The System" that rules USAmerica -- which includes the Presidency, the Congress, the media ... AHH! The fact that they think the media is part of the govt., just not elected, is itself worth the price of this volume. Taken in this vein, it is quite good. We must have a national health system like a European country's , because ... well, because they feel embarrassed that we aren't like Europe. That the U.S. was settled, predominantly, by people who WANTED NOT TO LIVE IN EUROPE is unimportant to Johnson and Broder, who know better than to take the this self-govt. nonsense seriously. What is serious is that the USAmerican public rejects 'socialized medicine.' So instead Clinton wrapped it up in his mess of a bill, and then tried to scare us into panic over our health care, saying the system would collapse if we didn't give control of it to the govt. Not true, and Johnson & Broder know it, but hey, can't let truth stand in the way of ruling. Frequently THE SYSTEM is unintentionally funny, too, as when the authors take a break from reporting the `horse race' political aspects of the story to criticize the media for concentrating on the `horse race' instead of the policy substance, after which they trash the only attempt ever made to discuss the policy substance (Elizabeth McCaughey's famous piece in The New Republic) and go back to reporting the horse race. You sort of wonder if they read their own manuscript. But have some sympathy. They do mention the policy substance from time to time -- our rulers think we spend far too much money on foolish things like attempting to save the lives of premature infants. Those resources should go to more important things, like health care for "homeless, drug abusing gay and bisexual men of color." I mean, would you want to defend THAT openly? It's also very useful in assessing the nature of liberal bias in the press. The last chapter of the hardcover first edition, on sale in 1996, told us about good Pres. Clinton's attempts to `save' the federal budget before runaway health care spending wrecked it, and evil House Speaker Newt Gingrich's attempts to `cut health care spending,' when in both cases they were trying to do the same thing -- cut the rate at which spending on health care would increase in the future. That's one way you bias coverage -- describing things in such a way as to create the desired reaction, which in this case was to get us to run out and vote Democratic. The last chapter of this paperback edition mentions the Kassenbaum-Kennedy bill, passed by Congress and signed by Clinton. All mention of it was carefully left out of the first edition. That's another way of biasing coverage -- leave out the `unimportant' stuff that might confuse the citizenry. And if you practice your critical thinking skills as you read, you will learn a lot about the chaotic way Clinton ran his administration, how the Democrats lost control of the House after twenty straight wins, why the bill was so complex, and other fascinating stuff. What you won't learn how the Clinton health plan would have worked, of course. Obviously, they were afraid of your reaction if you found out. That is probably the most important information in the book. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2001 by Stephen M. St Onge
    • Classic political process book
Perhaps only Showdown at Gucci Gulch matches The System for a true focus on how big-time policy really gets enacted - or doesn't as the Clinton health care drive shows. Whereas the Gucci Gulch focused on Reagan's 1986 tax policy overhaul success, The System follows President Clinton's efforts to revamp healthcare in America. What makes The System more representative of the political process than Gucci Gulch is that healthcare reform failed. Because of Clinton management inexperience, and Gingrich "coagulation" and scare tactics, healthcare reform never happened. That may be for the better. Clinton's plan left little to be desired, though it was not the "socialized medicine" that the right claimed it was. Still, that does not mean it was a worthy plan. The real problem, however, that scoring political success for both sides trumped the search for wise policy. Most everyone at the outset agreed that there was something wrong with healthcare, but change failed to occur. And no one is absolved of blame by Johnson and Broder: the President, First Lady, the wider Administration, Congress, the press, interest groups, and the public all allowed this to happen. Again, that doesn't mean that Clinton's plan should have been adopted, but something could have been done to better deal with the many healthcare problems plaguing the nation. Regardless, The System is a must-read for anyone who wants to see American politics as it really exists. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2006 by Jack Lechelt
    • Easy Read, Great Insight on Clinton Health Care
If you really want to get into the heads of the players behind the Clinton Health Care Reform plan then you must read Johnson and Broder's "The System." It reads more like a novel than textbook (which I happen to like). For anyone interested in health policy or political strategy this is a must-read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2010 by K. Mack
    • Good price.
Fast shipment. Good price.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2014 by michelle mcfalls
    • How Politics REALLY works!
I was in high school during the great health care debate of the 1990s so I remember bits and pieces of it. This book filled in the gaps of the stories and goes beyond the political posturing, rumors, and leaks and tells the real story of the attempt of President Bill Clinton, and other Washington Power Players, to reform the nation's health care system. The book tells who was striving for reform, who was trying to attempt a compromise, and who was standing in the way for principled and/or political reasons. Very Informative reading for anyone who wants to know more about that time in history, and wants to know how a bill REALLY becomes a law. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2013 by jhojnack
    • Surprisingly entertaining account of machinations in Washington DC
This is a surprisingly entertaining account of the wheeling and dealing in Washington around the failure of Healthcare Reform in the Clinton Administration. It reads like a novel. This book is important for understanding the upcoming debate on healthcare reform under the Obama administration.
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2009 by B. D. Raynor
    • Shows Politics As the Messy But Necessary Evil It Is
This is an excellent book for any student of the political process. The authors are biased. They believe the Hillary Clinton health care plan should have been enacted and present their study from this point of view. Their slant is annoying. However, it ultimately does not detract too much from a very able telling of the conceptualization, selling, manuevering and strategy employed by both sides over the struggle to socialize medicine in the United States. Although never pretty or highminded as we are taught in civics class, the book shows a democratic (small "d") system at work. Both sides had true believers who were guided by philosophy and were trying to do what was "right." Both sides had craven opportunists driven by darker more mercurial instincts. The American Congress worked to examine the issue and resolve the dispute as the framers had intended: by providing a forum for parties on both sides of the debate to hash out their perspectives and come to a resolution (one must always keep in mind that an equally legitimate action of any legislative body is to say no to proposals that are unwise or do not have sufficient political support.) This book will educate the average citizen and fascinate the political junkie. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 1999 by Wayne A. Smith
    • Only Washington insiders
could offer the following assessment as a critique, that Hillary Clinton was too committed to universal care to be considered unbiased. These MSM practitioners fall into the trap of all such: they think that sin resides equally on all sides. If, as they show, Republicans, industry lobbyists, even the Christian Coalition, and ignorant citizens, are arrayed against a project blaming the brave at the Alamo is stupid. The fact that President Obama is now facing similar problems after trying to avoid all the Clinton's so-called errors shows that this is not a fight that is remotely fair. And the press, including the Johnson's and especially the Broder's are in large measure to blame because they adopt a "he said, she said" everyone's a sinner stance that gives the opponents, once again, an unfair advantage. This book does not note the failures of the press to do their job, to find and report the truth. Save your money. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2009 by LindaEnglish
    • CREDIBLE?
I read this book a few years ago as a requirement for my Master's degree in public administration. I read along with interest because the story that unfolded read like some sort of sordid drama, like something you might see on prime time television. It had suspense, intrigue, and some of the most stunning ups and downs. And all this from a book that attempts to comprehensively explain the hopeful beginnings and hopeless endings of the Clintons' (both Bill and more specifically Hillary) attempts to implement universal health care in the United States. Think back, if you will, to the campaign promises Bill Clinton made in his first campaign. He vowed to fight for universal health care. Many Americans like this idea, but when it comes right down to it, most Americans do not trust the government to provide their health care and also feel that government intervention in private health care makes the system... socialist. Bill wanted to change this, and when he was elected, he appointed his wife, Hillary, to chair a committee to research and implement this new universal health care system. However, this was his first mistake. The American people at that time were very suspicious and skeptical of Mrs. Clinton, feeling that she did not embody what a First Lady should be. They also felt that she had demonstrated no real qualifications for this appointment. The writers of this book document the controversies and problems brilliantly. I felt confident about the facts... until I was happily reading along (the book, despite its daunting length, reads through smoothly and quickly) and found a most glaring and heinous error. The writers were discussing the positions of Fred Grandy, who, after leaving television, went on to represent his home state of Iowa in Congress. We all know Fred Grandy as Gopher on the tv show Love Boat. But this book said that he had been a star on the show Gilligan's Island! I started to exercise real doubt and skepticism about a book that managed to get through all stages of editing with such an easily spotted error on its pages. Whatever the case, if you want to know how the plan was formed and how it was unraveled quite easily not just by opposition Republicans but also by Hillary herself, you should indeed read this. Hillary and her policy wonk friend Ira Magaziner had many opportunities to compromise on some of the points in their health care plan which would have made it an easier sell to Republicans. In fact many Republicans offered to work with Hillary and Magaziner, but the stubborn duo insisted on having the plan intact... and ended up getting nothing. As did the American people. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2001 by EriKa
    • Last stand at the socialist corral
Haynes Johnson and David Broder, two of America's most eminent journalists, attempt to describe the events surrounding the aborted National Health Care system advocated by Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner. Rather than waste the readers time with a detailed review of complex arguements made by economists on both sides of the political spectrum, Johnson and Broder chose to write Political Soap Opera #394. You will learn precious little about the effects of price controls, shortages, human capital flows in response to lowered marginal revenues, etc. You will learn to despise most of the politicians and policy wonks who Johnson and Broder interview as intellectual lightweights. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 1998 by bregen@empe.com
    • Stunning inside look at politics
The Clinton Health Care plan was a bold, dramatic attempt to transform the American health care system to take into account the fact that while America may provide the best health care in the world, far too many of its citizens are unable to afford it. Clinton's attempt, probably the most dramatic attempt at a government program since the Great Society, failed miserably and helped to elect a Republican Congress. The battle the voters didn't see was the important one- the battle which nearly sank the Clinton Presidency and destroyed its ambitious health care proposal. The powers arrayed against the Clinton plan were formidable and well-financed, aided by the Administration's mind-numbing blunders. "The System" has the entire story- the high hopes, the stunning reversals, the industry's toxic reaction to reform. The Clintonites quickly found that the old adage is true. No good deed goes unpunished. "The System" is a very good book at who really calls the shots in American government and how little power people really have against the special interests. More valuable than ten years of civics lessons. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2000 by Michael J. Berquist

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