The Myth of Liberal Ascendency

G. William Domhoff’s The Myth of Liberal Ascendency is a book about how businesses play a huge role in US policy. The idea of businesses controlling a nation is nothing new, and there are many other books on the topic. This book, however, is weak in its writing, with endless citations of US government committees, and there are no case studies to be seen. It is not an interesting read, nor is it informative or thought-provoking.

Chapter Two of this book is an endless list of taxes in the 20^th century, with no information on the public response. On page 25 Domhoff says that it was corporate leaders who wanted Roosevelt to regulate the stock market, but this isn’t necessarily true, nor does the author cite the source. He continues to cite every single committee, law, commission, and investigative board, without giving any names of the people involved. I would like to at least know the names of the Senators and Congressmen who were on these committees, and it wouldn’t hurt to give stronger background on the events that led up to these laws the author mentions.  When he discusses the relationship between the labor unions, the industries, and the government, he cites no names or cases here either. This disappointed me, because I wanted to know more about how the US government dealt with unions in the war industries. There must have been some kind of arrangement, because the merchant marine, shipyards, and aircraft plants could not have afforded a strike. But there’s no mention of this.

On page 77, Domhoff says that the Federal Housing Authority started an 800,000 unit affordable housing program, but it was used to expand commercial real estate. If this is true, then where did it happen? Who was involved? The author does not even give the who-what-when-where-how-why that elementary school students are told to put in their current events homework! Furthermore, he mentions nothing about Levittown in this chapter, and that would definitely have been a great example of the business-government relationship in post-WW2 USA. William Levitt must have had some arrangement with the government concerning the licenses, building permits, and sewer lines, plus he had to have arranged something with the banks to cover the mortgages. Since he had no known disputes with the labor unions, he must’ve had an arrangement with them too.

I would not recommend this book for anyone. It has no value to anyone studying business, history, economics, government, or public policy. There is little practical evidence (names, places, specific cases) to prove the author’s point. If you are interested in how businesses and the government work together and/or control each other, I recommend Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal.