Q: You argue that American politics has veered off center. What do you mean?A: We mean that the policies our elected leaders are pursuing are dramatically to the right of the moderate center of American opinion, yet the normal checks and balances of U.S. government are not pulling elites back to the center as they should. On issue after issue, what Republicans are doing is starkly at odds with what the majority of Americans want them to do. The puzzle that animates our book is, why? Why this dramatic right turn at the highest levels of government in the absence of rising public conservatism? Q: Is the real problem the Bush administration?A: No, Bush has abetted the trends that we describe in this book, but he did not create them. Nor is he the only elected politician who has seized on the opportunities for offcenter policymaking. The story that we tell is not of one powerful leader riding roughshod over public sentiment and democratic procedures.

In many ways, it is more troubling: it is the story of a systemic weakening of the institutional bonds that connect ordinary voters with elected politicians to ensure that American politics remains on center. Q: Can American politics be brought back to the center?A: Yes, our political system can be pulled back--especially if Americans are made to understand these disturbing trends. We call for reforms to increase the political resources of the middle, which have atrophied greatly in the past three decades. And we propose measures to make elections more competitive and politicians more accountable. With some important reforms, we believe that the center can hold.