FUTURE historians pondering the decline of the American Republic will be greatly aided by these four books, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the widespread civic erosion and political dysfunction in the United States today.

Climate scientists have warned of the danger that insufficient action to halt global warming will rapidly bring the Earth to a “tipping point” beyond which irreparable harm will be done. I fear that we Americans, having already reached this point in our debased politics, are teetering on the brink of an abyss whose depth and darkness are beyond our understanding.

Dark Money, by Jane Myer

Although money may not be the root of all evil, it is certainly a central ingredient permeating civic and political corruption wherever these occur. In her book, Myer ably traces how America’s “billionaire class” acting individually as well as collectively “has used their vast fortune to influence Congress and manipulate the public.”

Beginning in the 1970s, many of the rich — motivated by their anger at the growth of government programs for the disadvantaged and alarmed by rising criticisms of big business — began to more vigorously engage in political action both through the creation of right-wing think tanks and puppet organizations that would propagandize on their behalf, and also by sponsoring candidates for office who would serve their interests. In the years since, the swelling number of the super-rich have developed ever more sophisticated methods to persuade government officials while simultaneously misleading or outright duping the American public.

Since the 1960s, the nation’s capital has been increasingly overrun by thousands of lobbyists who have seemingly endless supplies of money at their disposal by which to reward their elected friends. Their sole purpose is to persuade Congress to do their masters’ bidding, either by passing favorable legislation or by curbing laws or regulatory actions interfering with the interests of the wealthy elite.

With the 2010 decision by the US Supreme Court essentially declaring that political spending could not be regulated because that would constitute an “abridgement of free speech,” the floodgates were opened wide, submerging the comparatively feeble voice of the majority of Americans beneath a tidal wave of money flowing from the richest one-percent! Over one hundred years ago, when the federal House of Representatives and the Senate were virtually “owned” by multi-millionaires dubbed the “robber barons,” Mark Twain observed that those elected officials were “the best that money could buy.”

The Deep State, by Mike Lofgren

This book reveals the incestuous relationship between government officials and an all-pervasive lobbying system that effectively functions as a type of shadow government. Lofgren contends that this symbiotic relationship is the result not of any conspiracy but, rather, as a predictable outcome of America’s acquiring superpower status as a consequence of World War II.

This “deep state” consists of: 1) lobbyists and their wealthy sponsors (individuals, think tanks and business organizations); 2) present and past members of government, both elected and administrative (including important staff members); and 3) ranking members of the military, present and past (many of whom end up joining the ranks of the lobbyists when they leave the armed forces).

As a result, they share a mind-set that reinforces elite assumptions about the nature of American’s “friends” and “foes” and are preoccupied with defending America’s “interests” worldwide. As recent decades bear witness, they are also inclined to quickly resort to military responses to any perceived threat.

Because their interests and actions are so intertwined with governmental officials — reinforced by the ‘revolving door’ of congressional and administrative personnel who either come from within the ranks of this shadow government or else enter it after their period of public service ends — they have immense, yet mostly invisible, influence in shaping public policy.

American Amnesia, by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson

This work addresses how the far-right has succeeded in causing Americans to forget that their most prosperous period, beginning at the end of World War II and continuing into the mid-1970s, was a time when the federal and state governments played a vigorous role in bolstering employment opportunities during times of economic downturns, guaranteeing vital civil rights, enforcing safe workplace rules, and protecting the environment. This was also a time when taxes on the wealthiest were higher, investments in maintaining infrastructure and promoting scientific research more substantial, and the average citizen was employed at a job that paid good wages and offered sound benefits.

This was all possible because the political and economic “climate” of those days was significantly different, including the existence of moderate Republican officeholders and a more civically involved business community that recognized the value and appropriateness of government as an active partner.

However, the revival of laissez-faire capitalism, intertwined with radical libertarianism, allowed right-wing think tanks funded by the wealthy to churn out material designed to sully the progress of New Deal-like reforms while repeatedly expressing the fabrication that cutting taxes on the wealthy while reducing government expenditures on domestic programs would ensure an era of greater prosperity.

The authors argue that before this pervasive “American amnesia” can be cured, progressives must recapture the spirit and vision that served them so well for a good part of the 20th century.

American Character, by Colin Woodard

This book tackles the philosophical and ethical tug-of-war between individualism and communitarianism that underlies most of American history.

Woodard’s central tenet is that while America’s strong individualist streak is incompatible with the kind of socialism attempted at various times in Europe, its foundational commitment to the commonwealth is not so weak as to allow — at least for long — the abandonment of the good of the many for the enrichment of the few.

Woodard offers a compelling discussion of what he calls North America’s “eleven rival regional cultures.” These regions, which are not synonymous with individual state boundaries, began to acquire their unique mix of cultural characteristics at the time of the first colonies on the East coast.

Woodard believes that only when a sufficient number of citizens manage to champion shared interests and values among the various regional cultures will the pursuit of the greater good of the commonwealth be again possible. I fear that this may not happen anytime soon.