Hamilton students on the Program in Washington, D.C. recently visited the American Enterprise Institute where they heard from resident scholar Norman Ornstein. This semester's Program in Washington is directed by Professor of Government Rob Martin.
After reading Ornstein's book It’s Even Worse Than It Looks How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism for class, students were able to ask Ornstein himself what he thought about the state of our political system.
According to Ornstein, “It (our political system) doesn’t look good - the problem is cultural. There are no relationships within Congress anymore,” he contends.
Ornstein is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a contributing editor and columnist for National Journal.
He served as co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and participates in AEI's Election Watch series. Ornstein led a working group of scholars and practitioners that helped shape the law, known as McCain-Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. Ornstein's other books include The Permanent Campaign and Its Future; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, with Thomas E. Mann.
