Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems

"To discover who rules, follow the gold." This provocative history of modern American politics argues that major financial interests primarily determine who parties nominate and where they stand on issues. Despite being obvious to ordinary Americans, most scholars have dismissed this assumption. Ferguson offers evidence from the nineteenth century to 1994 mid-term elections, showing that voters are "right on the money." The book presents the investment theory of party competition as an alternative view of American democracy.