Dr. Thomas E. Mann, W. Averell Harriman chair and senior fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, will be the first speaker in this fall’s Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) Lecture Series on Constitutional Democracy at Marshall University.
Mann will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the Marshall University Foundation Hall, home of the Erickson Alumni Center, on MU’s Huntington campus. The event is free to the public.
Mann will discuss the long-term political trends leading to what he calls “the dysfunctional U.S. politics of today” and offer detailed and striking prescriptions for what it will take to change the situation.
After the lecture, Mann will sign copies of The New York Times bestseller, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks; How The American Constitutional System Collided With The New Politics Of Extremism, which he co-authored with Norman J. Ornstein.
“More than any time in my lifetime, the United States is challenged at home and so is our place in the world,” said Paul A. Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve. “When Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein get together to sound a loud alarm about the way our political system is being torn apart, it’s time to listen – and listen hard.
“Then the tough part – how do we restore some sense of common purpose, of working together to make our government work? Mann and Ornstein set out ways to rebuild political bridges, beginning right now. We better get to work.”
Mann has made recent media appearances with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Morning Joe, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Diane Rehm Show and PBS Newshour with Judy Woodruff.
The Amicus Curiae series is presented by the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy with support by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council.
