Beltwayland -- What is the Deep State? -- Bad ideas have consequences -- Do elections matter? -- Does our defense actually defend America? -- Economic warfare: big banks and the National Security State -- The commanding heights -- The Deep State, the law, and the constitution -- Silicon Valley and the American panopticon -- Personnel is policy -- Austerity for thee but not for me -- A stopped clock is right twice a day -- Signs of change? -- America confronts the world -- Is there an alternative?

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barred, House of Cards-style expose of who really wields power in Washington. Mike Lofgren is back with a book perfectly pitched for the frenzied circus of the primaries. His argument this time is that for all of the backstabbing and money grubbing of the campaign season, the politicians we elect have as little ability to shift policy as Communist party apparatchiks. Welcome to Mike Lofgren's Washington, D.C.--a This Town, where the political theater that is endlessly tweeted and blogged about has nothing to do with actual decision making. The real work gets done behind the scenes by invisible bureaucrats working for the vast web of agencies that actually dictate our foreign policy, defense posture, and security decisions. Have you ever wondered why Obama's policies look so much like Bush's? Seek no further: Hillary v. Jeb is just window dressing. Actual power lies in the Deep State, Washington's shadowy power elite, in thepockets of corporate interests and dependent on the moguls of Silicon Valley, whose data-collecting systems enable the U.S. government to spy on our every move, swipe, and click. Drawing on insider knowledge gleaned in his three decades on the Hill, Lofgren offers a provocative wake-up call to Americans and urges them to fight to reinstate the basic premise of the Constitution"-- Provided by publisher.