Growing numbers of scholars, practitioners, politicians, and citizens recognize the value of deliberative civic engagement processes that enable citizens and governments to come together in public spaces and engage in constructive dialogue, informed discussion, and decisive deliberation. This book seeks to fill a gap in empirical studies in deliberative democracy by studying the assembly of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament (ACP), which took place in Canberra on February 6–8, 2009. The ACP addressed the question “How can the Australian political system be strengthened to serve us better?”

The ACP’s Canberra assembly is the first large-scale, face-to-face deliberative project to be completely audio-recorded and transcribed, enabling an unprecedented level of qualitative and quantitative assessment of participants’ actual spoken discourse. Each chapter reports on different research questions for different purposes to benefit different audiences. Combined, they exhibit how diverse modes of research focused on a single event can enhance both theoretical and practical knowledge about deliberative democracy.

In a nation whose debt has outgrown the size of its entire economy, the greatest threat comes not from any foreign force but from Washington politicians who refuse to relinquish the intoxicating power to borrow and spend. Senator Tom Coburn reveals the fascinating, maddening story of how we got to this point of fiscal crisis—and how we can escape.

Long before America’s recent economic downturn, beltway politicians knew the U.S. was going bankrupt. Yet even after several so-called “change” elections, the government has continued its wasteful ways in the face of imminent danger. With passion and clarity, Coburn explains why Washington resists change so fiercely and offers controversial yet commonsense solutions to secure the nation’s future.

At a time when millions of Americans are speculating about what is broken in Washington, The Debt Bomb is a candid, thoughtful, non-partisan exposé of the real problems inside our government. Coburn challenges the conventional wisdom that blames lobbyists, gridlock, and obstructionism, and places the responsibility squarely where it belongs: on members of Congress in both parties who won’t let go of the perks of power to serve the true interests of the nation—unless enough citizens take bold steps to demand action.

“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams

Throughout a distinguished career as a business owner, physician, and U.S. senator, Tom Coburn has watched his beloved republic careen down a suicidal path. Today, the nation stands on the precipice of financial ruin, a disaster far more dangerous to our safety than any terrorist threats we face. Yet Coburn believes there is still hope—if enough Americans are willing to shake the corridors of Washington and demand action.

With an insider’s keen eye and a caregiver’s deft touch, Coburn diagnoses the mess that career politicians have made of things while misusing their sacred charge to govern.

Coburn’s incisive analysis:

• Reveals the root causes of America’s escalating financial crisis
• Exposes Washington’s destructive appetite for wasteful spending, power grabs, backroom deals, and quick non-fixes
• Rises above partisanship to implicate elected officials of all stripes in steering the nation off course
• Lays out a commonsense guide to restoring order
• Concludes with a clarion call and sound advice for Americans who would dedicate themselves to defusing the debt bomb

Above all, Coburn believes the United States can continue as a beacon of opportunity for future generations—but how we act today will determine whether we deliver the nation to our children and grandchildren fully alive, on life support, or without a pulse.

What people are saying about The Debt Bomb:

“The five loveliest words in the English language are those that begin the First Amendment: ‘Congress shall make no law . . .’ Notice the most underused word in contemporary Washington: ‘No.’ Fortunately, Tom Coburn uses it with gusto in attacking the crisis so well described in this book. He is a man with a plan, and the steely determination to implement it.”

— George F. Will, nationally syndicated columnist

“Dr. Tom Coburn is the real deal. He’s not a politician; he’s a citizen in office. Day in and day out, he’s been fighting to shrink the federal government, and has been attacked by his own party and the political opposition for doing so. Now he’s written a book outlining in stark terms the problems the nation is facing. Dr. Coburn is a real American hero, and he’s standing against the tide in the United States Senate. If you want the truth, from the inside, you need to read this book.”

— Mark Meckler, cofounder and National Chairman of the Tea Party Patriots

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• Presents a state-of-the-art collection of original readings relating to new media in terms of dynamic change
• Features interdisciplinary contributions encompassing the sciences, social sciences, humanities and creative arts
• Addresses a wide range of issues from the ownership and regulation of new media to their form and cultural uses
• Provides readers with a glimpse of new media dynamics at three levels of scale: the ‘macro’ or system level; the ‘meso’ or institutional level; and ‘micro’ or agency level

This book is the first to present an organized study of the key concepts that underlie and motivate the field of creative industries. Written by a world-leading team of experts, it presents readers with compact accounts of the history of terms, the debates and tensions associated with their usage, and examples of how they apply to the creative industries around the world.

Crisp and relevant, this is an invaluable text for students of the creative industries across a range of disciplines, especially media, communication, economics, sociology, creative and performing arts and regional studies.

Walter J. Ong’s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact on philosophical, theological, scientific and literary thought.

This thirtieth anniversary edition – coinciding with Ong’s centenary year – reproduces his best-known and most influential book in full and brings it up to date with two new exploratory essays by cultural writer and critic John Hartley.

Hartley provides:

• A scene-setting chapter that situates Ong’s work within the historical and disciplinary context of post-war Americanism and the rise of communication and media studies;
• A closing chapter that follows up Ong’s work on orality and literacy in relation to evolving media forms, with a discussion of recent criticisms of Ong’s approach, and an assessment of his concept of the ‘evolution of consciousness’;
• Extensive references to recent scholarship on orality, literacy and the study of knowledge technologies, tracing changes in how we know what we know.

These illuminating essays contextualize Ong within recent intellectual history, and display his work’s continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature and the media, as well as that of psychology, education and sociological thought.